Night market re-opens in Thailand as country eases Covid-19 restrictions

Night market re-opens in Thailand as country eases Covid-19 restrictions

Footage shows a night market in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand, which re-opened this week for the first time since the start of the coronavirus restrictions.

Visitors had to use hand sanitiser gel and scan a QR code while allows state officials to track and trace them.

The measure means that anyone connected to new outbreaks of Covid-19 can be quickly isolated.

The provincial deputy governor Natchudech Wiriyadiloktham said the re-opening of the Walking Street market for the first time since March could encourage domestic tourism, which has suffered during the pandemic.

He said: "The spread of Covid-19 has affected both the sellers in this market and the customers who usually come here shopping.

"I think that the re-opening is a good factor to boost the local economy and the morale of the residents here in this hard time." Thailand has been slowly easing coronavirus lockdown measures, with no local transmissions for more than two weeks.

Businesses that have been allowed to re-open are operating under strict guidelines to limit the risks of spreading the pandemic.