Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha will chair a meeting of the Centre for COVID-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) tomorrow (Friday) to assess the COVID-19 situation and to put final touches to preparations and measures to cope with the spread of the Omicron variant, ahead of the mass exodus from Bangkok and other cities during the Songkran holidays next week.

Government Spokesman Thanakorn Wangboonkongchana said today that the meeting will consider all safety measures adopted by the CCSA and implementation of the measures by all officials.

He said the government is confident that it will be able to control the situation if members of the public are cooperative in complying with the safety measures, even though COVID-19 infections may surge after the holidays.

He also repeated the government’s call for all Songkran travellers to make sure that they are free of and safe from the virus before travelling, to prevent passing the virus on to their elders.

The National Health Security Office is operating the 3,000-line 1330 hotline centre, to provide counselling to COVID-19 patients and to arrange for treatment in hospitals or isolation facilities.

In mid-March, the CCSA announced that some celebrations of the festivities, including traditional processions, will be allowed. However, the world-famous practice of water splashing and parties will remain prohibited for another year.

According to the COVID-19 Information Centre today (Thursday), 26,081 new infections were recorded in the past 24 hours, including 81 cases among international arrivals and the rest locally-acquired. The death toll today stands at 91.

There are also 24,728 cases, diagnosed by rapid antigen tests and awaiting RT-PCR confirmations, in the past 24 hours, bringing the total of confirmed and suspected infections to 50,809.