Airlines are pleading with the Thai government to allow domestic flights to resume as the UK put the country on its Covid-19 red list.

Footage shows the deserted scene at the Don Mueang International Airport (DMK) where flights have been grounded since July following an increase in coronavirus infections.

The Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand (CAAT) has been in discussions with low-cost carriers such as Nok Air and Air Asia over safety regulations. Health chiefs will then decide when schedules can resume.

It came as the UK put Thailand on its travel red list meaning that anyone arriving from the Southeast Asia country must quarantine in a hotel for 10 days.

Bangkok and other regions with high numbers of daily infections are currently in a partial lockdown with non-essential businesses closed, a nightly curfew from 9pm to 4am and travel between provinces restricted.

Ministers hope that a mass vaccine roll-out will still most of the population receive jabs by the end of October with plans to then allow holidaymakers back.

Thailand has recorded 1,139,571 cases and 10,587 deaths as of August 27. Ministers believe the wave of Delta variant infections which started up May – reaching 23,000 a day earlier this month – has peaked but some doctors still predict up to 400,000 more cases while the daily rate slows.