Bangkok: Thailand on Sunday announced an expansion of covid-19 restrictions that include travel curbs, mall closures and a night-time curfew to three more provinces after the country reported a third consecutive day of record case numbers. On Sunday, July 18, the Southeast Asian country reported 11,397 new cases and 101 deaths, taking the total number of infections to 403,386 and cumulative fatalities to 3,341, according to the Centre for the COVID-19 Situation Administration (CCSA).

From Tuesday, shopping malls will be closed, while travel restrictions and a curfew between 9 p.m. and 4 a.m. will be imposed in the provinces of Ayutthaya, Chonburi and Chachoengsao, according to a royal gazette announcement,  these measures will last for 14 days.  The capital Bangkok and nine provinces have been put under such partial lockdown from July 12 onwards and for at least 14 days, as the country is grappling with its worst wave of the outbreak.

Thailand has been trying to secure more vaccines as it vows to inoculate about 70 percent of its nearly 70-million population by the end of the year. Till date, the country has administered more than 14.2 million doses of vaccine, with less than 5 percent of the total population having been fully vaccinated, according to the CCSA.

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