Thailand to Fully Open Schools Next Week With Virus Under Check

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Thailand will allow schools to fully reopen from next Thursday after the Southeast Asian nation went without a local transmission of coronavirus for more than two months.

All schools will be allowed to function without any capacity limits or social distancing rules, according to Education Minister Nataphol Teepsuwan. The country’s Covid-19 center has agreed on the easing of rules, and Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-Ocha is expected to approve the step on Monday, Nataphol said.

Since early July, Thai public schools were allowed to partially reopen as coronavirus cases dwindled. But schools were required to ensure a distance of 1.5 meter between students with per class-room capacity limited to 25. Some large schools required students to attend classes on alternate days to avoid overcrowding.

Thailand hasn’t reported a single case of locally transmitted virus since May 26 and has been under the state of emergency since late March. The country reported 15 new infections on Friday, all found in state quarantine, taking the cumulative tally to 3,345, according to a spokesman for the Covid-19 center.

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