Struggling Phuket hit by fresh virus outbreak

Phuket, which has been battling to rebound from its Covid-triggered economic doldrums, has been hit by a new bunch of infections, many linked to bars both locally and one in the Thong Lor area of Bangkok.

According to Kusak Kukiatkul, chief of the Phuket provincial public health department, the tourist-dependent island reported eight new cases on Wednesday, half of which were related to entertainment venues.

One of the four patients linked to entertainment venues visited a bar in Thong Lor, leading the local authorities to order the quarantine and monitoring of 12 people who had close contact with that patient. The other three had visited local bars.

According to Mr. Kusak, four other cases, including a nine-year-old child, are local, and local health officials are trying to find out how and where they were infected.

Local health officials had already inspected the local bars visited by the three local patients and had ordered them to shut and be thoroughly cleaned, according to Phuket governor Narong Woonciew.

"We have ordered local police and officials to enforce tight rules on entertainment venues that violate Covid-19 preventive legal measures," Mr. Narong said, adding that since Covid-19 erupted in early 2020, Phuket had ordered two bars to stay closed for five years, as well as fining and temporarily shutting several others.

He insisted that his provincial administration had stepped up measures to monitor travelers from other provinces entering the province by land, sea, or air.

Meanwhile, Thanes Supornsahasrungsri, president of the Chon Buri Tourism Council, feared a new wave of infections would affect the province's tourism sector, despite no holidaymakers having yet canceled their plans to visit.

Mr. Thanes has asked the government to vaccinate 70% of Chon Buri's health staff, tourism workers, and other workers.

Pattaya is reporting 60% hotel occupancy for Songkran next week, he said the town still depended greatly on foreign tourists.

China, the town's major foreign market, is currently not allowing people to travel abroad because of its lockdown policy, he said, while India, another major tourist destination, is dealing with its own escalating Covid-19 crisis.