Bars and restaurants were cleaned before reopening after weeks of being closed due to second wave of Covid-19 in Thailand.

Footage shows staff at the Tha Chang bar disinfecting tables and fixing plastic barriers after it had resumed serving customers in Chiang Mai province on February 1.

The province had not recorded a new coronavirus case in 19 days so authorities had permitted entertainment and leisure businesses to reopen.

Covid-19 patients in hospitals have also recovered and gone homemaking removing the province from the list of high-risk areas.

Thae bar’s owner said he had 150 employees so it was a huge burden when they were forced to close down.

He said: ‘Aside from salary, we need to spend extra on opening the place again.

‘We need to install more fans to increase airflow as well as put up signs of services inside which increases our costs.’

The additional guidelines must be met and will be inspected by the police if a business has been complying or they will be closed down again.

Thailand has recorded 20,454 Covid-19 infections and 79 deaths. A second wave started in mid-December when hundreds of Burmese migrant workers at a seafood market tested positive. Cases have since spread to more than 45 provinces and lead to lockdowns in some regions.