PM Prayut calls upon the rich to help the nation with Covid-19 crisis

Prime MinisterPrayut Chan-o-cha, in his 10-minute speech on National TV broadcast yesterday, called on Thailand’s 20 richest people to step up and support the government in its fight against Covid-19.

Prayut told the 20 tycoons next week he will write an open letter seeking help to counter the pandemic, which he said would be a deadly danger to public health and economic well-being.

Prayut commended them for their efforts and confirmed that more was required in terms of ideas and resources. He also said that he would visit organisations of all sizes individually to hear their views.

The prime minister also called upon citizens, without colour-division, to stand in solidarity with the government, evidently in response to the deep red and yellow shirt divide in society.

Prayut spoke as the Department of Public Health, relevant agencies and the private sector focused on establishing a lock-down exit plan as the night-time curfew ended on 30 April with a downward trend in the numbers of reported infections.

As of Friday, there were just 28 new cases, taking total Covid-19 cases in Thailand to 2,700.

People floated thoughts of reopening such businesses, such as department stores and hairdressing salons.

The Ministry of Public Health has established an exit strategy in which a Covid-19 protection certificate is given to business owners who agree to obey stringent preventative measures and social distance strategies such as allowing customers to use masks at all time and limiting the number of customers served.

Six recommendations have since been released by the World Health Organization for countries that are planning to relieve lockdowns.

SOURCE: The Nation

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