Rest easy, barflies. No need to rush the evening before the clock hits 9 for some solo suds or friendly drinking.

 

Effective today, alcohol may be served until 11pm again in Bangkok and other designated tourism regions. The extension applies to sandbox areas including Nonthaburi, Pathum Thani, Chonburi, Phuket, Krabi, Phang Nga, and Kanchanaburi provinces.

 

Restaurants must have obtained certification under the SHA+ or Thai Stop Covid 2 Plus programs to serve.

 

As for entertainment venues? Unless bars or karaoke joints rebrand themselves as restaurants to comply with current regulations, they’re SOL and must remain closed indefinitely. 

 

Fines for flouting the rules run upward of B100,000 (US$3,030) and a year in the slammer to boot.

 

Additionally, bars operating as “restaurants” in Chonburi province must administer ATK tests to all customers unable to provide negative results from the past 72 hours.

 

The relaxation of public health measures including the February return of the Test & Go travel program was tipped Thursday by the pandemic task force, which did not specify when the booze curfew would be pushed back.

 

The official COVID rate of infection continued to slow over the weekend, with 7,139 new cases confirmed today compared to Saturday’s 8,122. Hospital utilization remains little changed since Jan 16.

 

The article originally appears on Coconuts Bangkok