Health

Bangkok police use riot shields to reduce risk of COVID-19 infections

Bangkok, Apr 1 (EFE/EPA).- Thai police in Bangkok have deployed riot shields as a social-distancing partition to reduce the risk of COVID-19 infections while serving the people.The number of confirmed cases of cornavirus reached 1,771 with 12 related deaths on Wednesday.The Thai government has declared a state of emergency and mandated the closure of all shopping malls and other establishments (except those selling food and essential items) while imposing a soft lockdown in the capital and other provinces in a bid to slow down the ongoing pandemic of the COVID-19 disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. (Camera: NARONG SANGNAK).FOOTAGE SHOWS THAI POLICE OFFICERS SERVING PEOPLE WITH RIOT SHIELDS AS SOCIAL-DISTANCING PARTITIONS AMID THE COVID-19 OUTBREAK AT THA PHRA POLICE STATION IN BANGKOK, THAILAND.SOUNDBITES: PREECHA PHENGPHAO, SUPERINTENDENT OF THAPHRA METROPOLITAN POLICE STATION (IN THAI).TRANSLATIONS: As the COVID-19 situation is getting worse, I am concerned about the well-being of the police officers under my command, especially police detectives and officers working at the one-stop-service station who need to work in close contact with a lot of people. So, I got this idea of making these police riot shields, which have been left unused because there are no such incidents nowadays, more suitable for the current situation.