The government can impose the night-time curfew again if people fail to cooperate with disease control measures, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said.

He sent the message in response to the report that young motorcyclists gathered for illegal street races last night, the first night after the curfew was lifted, Thai News Agency (TNA) reported.

“The teenagers who gathered for the bike races are the people who did not cooperate. The society and parents must be helpful. If this continues and people fail to control themselves, the curfew will be re-announced,” Gen Prayut said.

That would be back to square one and there would be economic and health impacts, he said.

“Police must take action on the bike races of teenagers. Without a curfew, they must be arrested anyway for causing public annoyance. They could also transmit diseases. The emergency decree is still in effect. Officials must turn their curfew checkpoints into illegal race checkpoints,” the Prime Minister said.

He thanked the business people who implemented more disease control measures than what the government required.

“After the 4th lockdown relaxation, we will see whether the daily disease situation will escalate. Today it is lucky that the disease is imported and infected people are at state quarantine facilities. With this, we can control it,” Gen Prayut said.

“100 per cent freedom may not happen due to health restrictions,” he said. - BERNAMA