Starting Tuesday, restaurants, food shops and pavement food stalls in Bangkok can serve dine-in customers until 7pm only, after which only takeaway services are permissible, as the city’s administration tightens controls on crowded activities to stem the surge of COVID-19 infections.

COVID-19 infections rose to a new daily high on Monday, with 745 new cases being recorded.

Pongsakorn Kwanmuang, spokesman for City Hall, said today that customers tend to take longer when dining in the evening than they do during lunch time, when most customers are in a rush to get back to their offices, so the Bangkok Communicable Disease Committee decided to end dining-in at 7pm, until January 31^st.

He said that the new measure also applies to sidewalk food stalls, which erect tables and chairs for customers, adding operators of eateries should understand the need for the restriction.