Thai tourist resort Pattaya in lockdown as Covid-19 cases riseGENERAL NEWSEDITORDECEMBER 31, 2020
The coastal resort of Pattaya in eastern Thailand was under lockdown last night (Dec 30) following a rise in Covid-19 cases in the country.

Footage shows the deserted bars and strip clubs on the Walking Street area of the city and along the beachfront.

The area was declared a “maximum control zone” after the daily number of Covid-19 infections increased by 144 on Wednesday.

Restaurants, massage parlours, shopping malls gyms and other non-essential businesses were ordered to close until January 4. In the capital Bangkok, entertainment venues were also shut.

The measures came after hundreds of Burmese migrant workers contracted the virus while working at one of the country’s largest seafood markets in Samut Sakhon province near Bangkok.

Cases have now spread to more than 44 provinces and infected more than 2,000 people, including several taxi drivers and hundreds of gamblers at an illegal casino.

Covid-19 task force spokesman Taweesilp Wisanuyothin warned that daily cases in Thailand could soar to 8,000 unless they act quickly to prevent a second wave from ravaging the country.

He said that the best-case scenario if ‘everybody works together’ is around 1,000 cases a day.

”Unless we tighten measures there will be 8,000 cases per day,’’ he added.