Thai capital's biggest weekend market reopens under strict anti-pandemic measures

Bangkok's Chatuchak Weekend Market reopened for the first day on Saturday with measures strictly taken against the COVID-19 pandemic.

Officials of the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) were obliged to check up the temperature of each incoming shopper and vendor at all gates of the Thai capital's biggest weekend market, which had been temporarily closed to contain the spread over the last two months.

All shoppers and vendors are strictly required to wear face masks, wash their hands with sanitizer gel and observe social distancing to protect themselves from possible infection, according to a BMA official at the market near the BTS skytrains' Morchit station in Chatuchak district of the Thai capital.

All food shops and non-alcoholic beverage stalls in the premises of the BMA-run market are strictly required to keep one seat for a customer about 1.5 meters apart from another while public utilities such as seats, toilets and ATMs are to be cleaned up at a two-hours interval, the official said.

However, the weekend market, which used to open until late in the evening, is currently only allowed to open from 05.00 a.m. until 06.00 p.m. for all shoppers and vendors to call it a day and leave well before curfew hours, starting at 10.00 p.m.