Thailand Ministry of Health reports 8,450 new COVID-19 cases and an additional 58 deaths since yesterday. The ministry also announced an additional 10,467 patients recovered from the COVID-19 virus.
On Friday, the government agreed to extend two travel packages until the end of September in order to encourage people to go on vacation and support the struggling tourism industry.
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha presided over a meeting of the Centre for Economic Situation Administration that reached the decision.
After the discussion, the government decided to add one million extra room privileges to We Travel Together, a hotel subsidy scheme, and extend it from the end of this month to the end of September, according to government spokeswoman Thanakorn Wangboonkongchana.
The government will cover 40% of the accommodation charge, up to 3,000 baht per night, and 40% of the plane ticket, up to 2,000 baht.
The Tour Teaw Thai package, according to Mr. Thanakorn, would be extended from the end of April to the end of September.
This initiative is designed to assist tour group operators by providing a 40% subsidy on trip packages.
The Association of Domestic Tourism, the Thai Chamber of Commerce, and Thailand’s Tourism Authority have joined forces to urge the government to keep subsidy programs in place to encourage domestic travel.
According to Deputy Public Health Minister Sathit Pitutecha, the Public Health Ministry hopes to identify Covid-19 as an endemic disease by July.
Mr. Sathit, speaking at the annual conference of the Private Hospital Association on the government’s Covid-19 policy, stated that if the conditions are met, the ministry should proceed with declaring Covid-19 an endemic disease on July 1 as planned.