Thailand sets more restrictions amid second wave

Thailand’s government yesterday held off from ordering new nationwide business shutdowns amid a new wave of COVID-19 cases, but empowered some provincial governors to set their own restrictions and pleaded with the public not to travel.

Thailand, which had largely controlled the virus by the middle of last year, saw a second wave of outbreaks beginning last month.

It confirmed 315 new cases yesterday, the majority of which are from local transmission, bringing its total to 7,694 cases and 64 deaths.

The country yesterday also reported its first known case of a more contagious variant of the coronavirus called B.1.1.7, Yong Poovorawan, a senior virologist at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, said in a…