Thailand king cancels ceremonies as COVID surges

BANGKOK — Thailand’s King Maha Vajiralongkorn was unable to mark the second anniversary of his coronation on May 4 after a letter from the king’s private secretary on April 27 instructed that the ceremony would again be canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has surged alarmingly in recent months.

After successfully keeping the pandemic at bay in 2020, as of May 4, Thailand has 72,118 confirmed cases and 303 deaths. Unconfirmed infections are expected to be higher.

The Bank of Thailand said in March that it expects the economy to grow 3.0% this year instead of the 3.2% it forecast in December. The Thai economy contracted 6.1% in 2020, the biggest fall in more than two decades, according to the government. The economy shrank 7.6% in 1998 amid the Asian financial crisis.

At the Grand Palace on Tuesday morning, the king would have paid homage to the nine preceding kings of the…