The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) has reduced the opening hours of convenience stores, food shops and stalls by ordering them to close from midnight to 5am, from Thursday until end of April.

Spokesman for City Hall, Pol Captain Pongsakorn Kwanmuang, said today that all public and private parks in communities, housing estates and condos will also be closed from tomorrow until April 30^th, because people have been using these open spaces for social gatherings or other group activities.

Official document services, usually performed at district offices, will also be suspended, except for the issuance of birth and death certificates, registrations of marriage, issuance of divorce certificates and approval of household certificate and ID card copies.

For expired ID cards, the Interior Ministry has extended their validity until the end of July 2020.

Rental fees, paid by vendors in 10 markets owned by City Hall, will be waived from March until the situation has returned to normal.

Pongsakorn said City Hall is aware of the inconvenience caused by the new measures which, he maintained, are necessary to stem the spread of coronavirus, adding that City Hall has not yet considered a complete lockdown of Bangkok.

Meanwhile, State Railway of Thailand’s operations director Mr. Thakoon Intharachom said today that a passenger, who died in a south-bound train carriage on March 30^th, tested positive for COVID-19.

He said the SRT will try to track down about 15 passengers who were in the same carriage and inform them of the need to observe self-quarantine and to monitor their health for 14 days.

Thakoon added that all train officials and police working on that train, travelling from Bangkok to Su-ngai Kolok, have been quarantined.