Thailand Sunday banned indoor dining and gatherings of more than 20 people in addition to the closing of construction sites and the sealing off workers' quarters in Bangkok and nine other provinces.
The measures will remain for 30 days.
Meanwhile, In Australia each state and territory is on high alert for a national outbreak of the contagious Delta strain of Covid. As many as 35 new cases of community transmission were recorded in four separate jurisdictions.
Australian Medical Association vice president Dr. Chris Moy said the virulence of the Delta strain was a big factor in the national outbreak. "We're basically having a cross-country seeding event, that's as simple as that," he said.
Thailand reported 3,995 confirmed cases and 42 dead in the past 24 hours. Health officials blame a lack of cooperation from migrant workers employed in construction and at factories, Reuters and others including Bloomberg News and Agence-France Presse reported Sunday.
"Camps were closed, but workers sneaked out to markets and communities, and spread the disease," Apisamai Srirangson, representative for the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration, said. She said that "bubble and seal" disease control measures had proved successful within 28 days in handling clusters in Samut Sakhon province, south of Bangkok, but not in the capital.
Dr Moy said states and territories have to go hard on restrictions early to minimize the spread after two separate coronavirus outbreaks have sparked cases in NSW, the Northern Territory, Western Australia and Queensland.
"It's beaten the NSW contact tracers, and the reliance on contact tracers and holding out [on introducing a lockdown] for a few days has led to seeding across the country.
"This is a different beast. You've got to go hard at this: really, that's your best chance."
National Health Minister Greg Hunt said New South Wales and the Northern Territory were responding 'magnificently' to the latest Covid outbreaks.
Opposition health spokesman Mark Butler said millions of Australians were paying the price for Prime Minister Scott Morrison's mistakes with the vaccine rollout and hotel quarantine.
In Thailand, the number of hospital beds in Bangkok for seriously ill patients are running short despite the creation of several field hospitals.
Under the new restrictions, construction workers will be isolated in camps in Bangkok and five neighboring provinces, and in the country's four
southernmost provinces, all virus hot spots.
The government has ordered the camps where construction workers are housed in Bangkok and other hard-hit areas to be shut for a month with the
workers kept inside to help stop the spread of the disease. Department stores and malls in Bangkok can stay open until 9 p.m.,
but food and drinks in restaurants are allowed only for takeaway. Seminars, meetings and parties are canceled. If more clusters are discovered, the governor can seal off those communities.
Travelers from the 10 provinces, including Bangkok, will be isolated and quarantined.
Authorities, meanwhile, are planning to go ahead with a plan to allow fully vaccinated foreign tourists to visit the southern resort island of
Phuket without undergoing a 14-day quarantine that is otherwise mandatory.
Thailand is anxious to begin the recovery of its lucrative tourism industry, which has been devastated by the pandemic and consequent travel restrictions.
