News
| Newly confirmed case(s) | Total Cases | Provinces with confirmed cases | Discharged from hospital | From 1 April, totally confirmed cases | |
| 985 | 33,610 | 73 | 28,248 (at 84.05%) | 4,747 | |
| Local transmission | From abroad | Being hospitalised/ in field-hospital/ quarantined | Confirmed cases in Bangkok (from 1 April) | Death toll | Accumulated cases from active case finding |
| 980 [634 (get tested in hospital) + 346 (active case finding)] | 5 (in SQ) | 5,265 | 1,431 (+137) | 97 (+0) | 17,877 |
- On Friday, the PM has tasked a newly formed team with procuring alternative Covid-19 vaccine. The team will cooperate with private hospitals in procuring alternative Covid-19 vaccine in order to reach the target to vaccinate 40 million people.—Nation Thailand
- In a bid to curb the spread of COVID-19 in other provinces, 38 provincial authorities are imposing 14-day quarantine requirement for visitors from Bangkok, Pathum Thani, Nonthaburi, Samut Prakan and Nakhon Pathom.—Krungthep Turakij [Please note that each province have different measures], Reuters
- The Deputy director-general of the Department of Disease Control (DDC), outlined the Ministry of Public Health estimation of daily numbers by five scenarios using different level of measures as followed—all media outlet Prachachat, Bangkok Post
| Scenarios | Lowest numbers | Average numbers | Highest numbers |
| 1st Without any measure | 1,308 | 9,140 | 28,678 |
| 2nd Shut down of entertainment complexes in 41 risky provinces | 817 | 2,996 | 7,244 |
| 3rd Shut down of entertainment complexes in 41 risky provinces and with strict personal preventive measures | 476 | 934 | 1,589 |
| 4th Shut down of entertainment complexes in 41 risky provinces with strict personal preventive measures and reduce large gathering | 378 | 593 | 857 |
| 5th Shut down of entertainment complexes in 41 risky provinces with strict personal preventive measures, reduce large gathering and implement organisational measures (e.g. WFH) | 303 | 391 | 483 |
- Bangkok Criminal Court has sentenced the managers of 2 nightclubs, Krystal Club Thonglor 25 and Emerald Club Thonglor 13 for two months for violating the entertainment complexes bill and Emergency Decree. The Court will make recommendation to a Metropolitan Police Committee to shut down the two clubs for five years.–ThaiPBS
- Please view the full list of locations where Songkran 2021 festivities are cancelled at Tourism Authority of Thailand’s website.—TAT News
- Thai media started reporting on the low efficacy of Chinese COVID vaccine as announced by the Chinese Department of Disease Control. The mainland authority is planning to inoculate a mixture of Chinese vaccine with other vaccines to maximise the effectiveness of the vaccines.—Krungthep Turakij
Politics
- The Bangkok Remand Prison dismissed the online rumours that one of the student-led protest leaders Parit ‘Penguin’ Chiwarak is beaten to death in prison by guards. The prison office issued the health condition of the detained who is on hunger strike for almost a month.—Krungthep Turakij
- It is now the timing for many political parties to hold its annual plenary meeting as required by the law. Many parties have postponed the meeting as the pandemic has surged again.
- Opposition Move Forward Party has issued a press release to postpone the meeting on 24 April until further notice.—Krungthep Turakij
- Democrat Party spokesperson said the party will wait and see the guideline from the Election Commission whether the meeting on 19 April can be postponed.—Krungthep Turakij
- The secretary-general of the main ruling Palang Pracharat Party (PPRP) said that despite the pandemic the party annual meeting will proceed on 18 April.—Krungthep Turakij
- The newly established “Power Party” (Pak-Pa-Lang) has unveiled the party logo which look pretty much like Pheu Thai Party’s logo. The party is scheduled to hold a meeting on 9 May and will announce the party leader who has a very well-established profile.—Krungthep Turakij
- New parliament is due to officially open next month. The new river-side parliament has been constructing for 8 years and claimed to be the largest legislative building on earth.–Matichon
Economic
- Due to the new surge of COVID cases in the Kingdom and the potential lockdowns, various economic analysts estimated that Thai Q2 GDP will plunge.
- Bank of Thailand downgraded the growth of Thai economy in 2021 from 3.2 to 3 percent and in 2022 from 4.8 to 4.7 percent. This estimation, however, has not placed the third wave of the pandemic into account.–Prachachat
- Asia Plus Group Holdings estimated that the recovery in quarter 2 will slow down in the same pattern as the United Kingdom is facing. However, it is estimated that should the situation persists, the pandemic will downsize the economy by 2.5 to 3 percent.–Prachachat
- Thonburi Healthcare Group said that if the government is unable to curb the pandemic soon, Thai 2021 GDP might see the growth of one percent from the earlier expectation at 3 to 4 percent.
- Chairman of the Thai Chamber of Commerce expected that the new surge will have an impact on the Songkran economic activity which was estimated to be at 2-3 billion THB in Bangkok and 10-15 billion THB nationwide. Private sector would like to be consulted first should the government is going to impose a lockdown on the capital as they are the sector affected the most.—Than Settakij
- However, State-owned Government Savings Bank (GSB) forecasts the country’s economic expansion may fare better than expected or at 3-3.5 percent as the kingdom is set to open its doors to foreign tourists.—Bangkok Post
- Deputy government spokeswoman Rachada Dhnadirek said he two decrees aiming at relieving the debt burden of entrepreneurs and the other to provide assistance worth 350 billion baht to business affected by Covid-19 will be effective on Monday.—Bangkok Post
