Thailand’s Department of Rail Transport has decided to ease social distancing measures, when travelling on all public rail transport systems, by allowing the occupancy of all seats, but passengers must wear face masks and refrain from talking to each other during the journey.

The easing applies to train services operated by the State Railway of Thailand, the Metropolitan Rapid Transit (MRT), Bangkok Expressway and Metro (BEM), BTS and SRT’s Electric Train Company.

The service operators are still required to check the temperatures of all passengers before boarding and ensure carriages are not too packed, despite easing social distancing for seating.

Passengers will be advised, by the service operators, to clean their hands with sanitizer before boarding and after disembarking and to use the Thai Chana application for contact tracing purposes.

Meanwhile, the Cabinet approved a budget of 883 million baht today, from the Central Fund for the Defence Ministry, to be used to set up state quarantine accommodation for more arrivals from abroad.

According to the Foreign Affairs Ministry, 22,470 Thais living or working abroad have applied to return to Thailand in July and August, but the actual number of arrivals will vary.

The money will be used to arrange for quarantine accommodation for up to 41,000 arrivals.

According to Labour Minister, Suchart Chomklin, a Thai interpreter working at the office of the Thai labour attaché in Saudi Arabia who was infected with COVID-19, has partially recovered and is due to arrive in Bangkok, via Singapore, on Wednesday, when he will be sent to Rajavithi Hospital for further treatment.