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A topic that is on the lips of many here recently is the notion of lockdown here in Thailand. We have done a number of videos on this channel recently on this topic and we are making other videos contemporaneously with this one.

In a recent article from Thai Visa, thaivisa.com, the article is titled: When is a Curfew not a Curfew? Business Chief Slams COVID-19 Measures. Quoting directly: "Thailand's Government has been blustering for days that they will not announce a nationwide lockdown and curfew but Daily News reported that it is immaterial. Based on their assessment, patently obvious to anyone who lives in Thailand, on comments from the chief of the Federation of Thai Industries, Suphan Mongkhonsuthee”, (and let's be clear, this is the Chief of the Federation of Thai Industries. So we are hearing a voice from someone who chairs an organization, a grouping if you will of Thai business interests. This is not a Government spokesperson. We are not even talking about Tourism spokesperson here. We have been talking about that a lot on this channel. This is just someone in the business community generally, the Federation of Thai industries) "He said yesterday that the Government don't need to issue a lockdown or curfew. The people are locked down and under curfew already." Quoting further: "People are scared to go out far more than in other waves of the virus and with bars shut and malls and restaurants closing early, there is nothing for them to do at night anyway. (I thought this was interesting; that is why I am making this video), "He urged the Government to reassess the situation every 3 days and not wait the standard 14 days before coming up with something new.”

That is something I haven't seen proposed up until this point and I do hope the Government takes heed of that. Again, this is being said by someone who is representing a substantial number of Thai businesses here in Thailand and business interests and I think it is a fairly reasonable request. Rather than just imposing blanket restrictions for 14 days, which is a prolonged period of time, anyone that has ever run their own business or tried to do business on their own or has any kind of organization can tell you to think that you can just shut something down for two weeks and reopen it with little consequence, that is just an unrealistic presumption, that is just not the way that the world works.

That said, we all understand that the Government feels the need to respond to this COVID situation so perhaps again a frequent reassessment of these restrictions is a very good idea. I think that would be a very good idea personally and every 3 days just say "look is this making sense? Has the situation materially changed? etc." And then go ahead and make decisions accordingly. It will be interesting to see if this notion gains any traction with policy makers here in Thailand but of course we will keep you updated on this channel as the situation progresses.