• Thailand's most severe outbreak so far started in April and has badly hit domestic spending and travel in the absence of foreign visitors.
• Hotel occupancy rates dropped to 10% in the second quarter from 20% in the first quarter, the survey showed.

• Thailand has since a year ago tightened visa processes and required all visitors and returning residents to undergo 14 days of quarantine in government-approved facilities.
• Tourism a key source of income and jobs for Thailand. In 2019, it welcomed a record 39.9 million visitors who spent 1.91 trillion baht ($61.32 billion).

• One million doses will arrive on May 6 and two million more are due by the end of May, said Witoon Danwiboon, head of the Government Pharmaceutical Organization (GPO).
• Health authorities reported 1,583 new cases and 15 more deaths on Friday and said 250 patients were on ventilators.

• Masks are widely worn in Thailand but the order to make them mandatory comes just a few days after Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha was fined $190 for failing to wear one during a meeting.

* Parks, gyms, cinemas, bars, restaurants, day-care centres and schools have been closed in Bangkok, the outbreak epicentre, and non-essential travel from the capital is being discouraged.

• The four million arrivals are expected in the second half of the year, Pipat Ratchakitprakarn told reporters, as the tourism-reliant nation prepares to reopen more broadly to visitors after more than a year of tight entry procedures.

• "We have to divide up the areas based on seriousness, which is different and so measures have to be suitable for each area," Chawetsan told a briefing.
• Activities involving over 50 people would be prohibited and 18 provinces, including Bangkok, classified as red zones and the remaining 59 provinces as orange.

• The ministry slightly raised its 2021 forecast for exports, a key growth driver, to a 6.2% rise from the 6% increase it predicted in October, ministry spokeswoman Kulaya Tantitemit told a briefing.

• Foreign tourist numbers slump 83% to 6.7 mln in 2020.
• Govt predicts 5 mln arrivals this year.
• Thailand to start coronavirus vaccinations next month.

• AstraZeneca cutting doses by 50,000 - Thai minister.
• AstraZeneca only COVID-19 vaccine approved in Thailand.
• 900+ cases found in Samut Sakhon province outbreak.

• But sales slumped 21.4% in the whole of 2020, it said.

• Government to support utility bills.
• Has 638 billion baht ready for soft loans.
• Central bank extends debt restructuring period.

• The government has a fiscal budget, including for urgent matters, of more than 139 billion baht ($4.65 billion).
• There is also an investment budget of 290 billion baht for state enterprise in the current fiscal year which will help drive Southeast Asia's second-largest economy.