Thailand: Prime minister working from home until January 14

Bangkok (NNT/VNA) - With authorities expecting a rise in the number of COVID-19 infections due to New Year’s festivities and travels, employers in Thailand are being urged to implement a Work from Home model for their workers.

Civil servants are working from home for two weeks, while the prime minister himself is also working from home until January 14 and will be participating in this week’s Cabinet meeting remotely.

Prime Minister Gen. Prayut Chan-o-cha has ordered relevant agencies to monitor the situation of Omicron variant infections, with an aim of preventing transmission clusters. Lessons are being taken from the recent Omicron cluster in Kalasin and authorities are working to limit transmissions as much as they can.

The prime minister is also urging people who suspect they may be infected with COVID-19 to refrain from partaking in activities and avoid contact with others, as well as to quickly self-isolate and enter the treatment process.

Earlier, the prime minister issued an urgent letter telling civil servants to work from home from January 1 to 14 as part of an effort to raise the disease prevention intensity at public offices.

Gen. Prayut himself is also working from home until January 14. He will reportedly attend the Cabinet meeting on January 4 and the Center for COVID-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) full meeting – expected on January 7 – by means of video conference from his residence inside the 1st Infantry Regiment in Bangkok.

Gen. Supoj Malaniyom, the director of the CCSA’s operations center, said a meeting of the operations center will be held on January 5, after which findings and proposals from the meeting will be presented at the CCSA full meeting later in the week./.