No water play is allowed for the Thai New Year and Phuket Governor Phakaphong Tavitpatana has repeatedly urged people to stay in their homes during the 14-day lockdown.
The Ministry of Culture has issued an advisory reminding people that any behaviour that may spread the virus is punishable under the Emergency Decree.
The advisory urges people to conduct traditional blessing ceremonies on Buddha statues at home and offer traditional wai blessings at home with their father, mother and relatives – but cautioned people to be careful to maintain distance of one to two metres.
The notice also suggests, “What you can do to show your father, mother and relatives that you are a good person is offer your blessings by phone call, video call or online.”
All 17 subdistricts (tambon) in Phuket came under “lockdown” at 00:01am today, with no non-essential travel beyond subdistrict borders permitted.
In announcing the lockdown last week, Governor Phakaphong urged all people on the island to remain in their places of residence as much as possible during the lockdown in order to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus.
Governor Phakaphong noted that people are still allowed outside their homes, but must stay inside their subdistrict.
Also during the fortnight, teams of officers and volunteers will conduct door-to-door checks of households to check the temperatures of residents in the hope of identifying infected people early and hence prevent the virus from spreading further.
“Officers will check the temperature of all people in each area. If any person is suspected of being infected, they will be sent to a hospital specified by the province,” Governor Phakaphong said in the order issued.
So far the “proactive” campaign, which launched in Patong a week ago, has identified 37 people confirmed as infected with COVID-19.
The Governor on Friday also banned the sale of alcohol anywhere on the island, even among wholesalers, with the ban coming into effect at 00:01am Saturday (Apr 11). The ban will remain in effect until further notice.
Police in Patong and elsewhere across the island are patrolling the streets and checkpoints have been set up across the island to prevent people from travelling outside their subdistricts. Roadblocks with concrete barriers have even been set up on some main roads to prevent travel between subdistricts.
The national nightly curfew from 10pm to 4am and many other provincial orders issued (see here) remain in effect also until further notice.
The Phuket News wishes one and all a happy, safe Songkran.