Expert says Thailand’s surge in Covid-19 cases is ‘failure of the winner’, SE Asia News & Top Stories

One week before Songkran, Thailand’s traditional new year in mid-April, health officials in Bangkok detected the presence of the coronavirus B117 first identified in Britain. This highly contagious variant was found in a cluster of patients who had visited entertainment venues in the capital.

To reduce the risk of it spreading, the government banned the splashing of water – an annual ritual – and cancelled all public events which might cause people to gather.

But, wary of the economic costs of a lockdown before the long holiday, it did not stop people from travelling back to their home provinces for family gatherings.

Provincial governors were left to impose their own health control measures.

The number of Covid-19 cases spiked after Songkran. On Monday (May 17), Thailand logged an all-time high of 9,635 new infections, over 70 per cent of whom were prisoners across the…