After Lavish Nights of Clubbing in Bangkok, a Covid Outbreak

BANGKOK — When the V.V.I.P. customers disembarked from their limousines at the Krystal Exclusive Club in Bangkok, young women in tiaras, angel wings and not much else sometimes greeted them.

The V.V.I.P. clientele were whisked to the V.V.I.P. rooms, with their padded walls and plush sofas. Thai government bigwigs partied at Krystal — one of its mottos is “the luxury entertainment of night light” — as did diplomats, army officers and businessmen. For much of the pandemic, coronavirus restrictions did not stop the fun.

But this spring, as go-go dancers shimmied, Krystal and another neighborhood nightclub, Emerald, turned into the epicenter of what is now Thailand’s biggest and deadliest coronavirus surge, according to health ministry officials. Scores of people linked to the clubs have tested positive, including an ambassador and a government minister. (The minister’s staff…