The governor of Kanchanaburi issued an order on Thursday evening to shut down all hotels and resorts in the province effective immediately.

Guests who have already checked in can complete their stay after which the hotel must close immediately until further notice.

Violators will face fines of up to 100,000 baht and/or two years behind bars.

Governor Phoomsawat said because the province is popular with tourists, closing hotels and resorts was necessary to prevent the spread of the virus during the current outbreak.

The only exemptions are hotels used as quarantine facilities or by officials visiting on Covid-19 related matters.

Pattaya police are investigating the death of a 58-year-old Austrian man who plunged to his death after a row with his lover.

Johann Benz Wein allegedly jumped over the eighth-floor balcony of a condominium on the evening of Jan 8 – a day after a Swedish man fell to his death in questionable circumstances the day before.

His boyfriend, Somphoth Chanthavong, 34, from Laos, claimed he and his partner had been drinking at a bar before returning home drunk.

When the couple arrived at their unit, they allegedly started fighting which made Johann upset. Somphoth claimed he then threatened to jump from the balcony.

Somphoth said: ‘He became suicidal while we were fighting and ran up to the balcony. He told me he would jump.’

He added that he tried to pull him away from the balcony but he couldn’t as his boyfriend was too strong.

Somphoth said: ‘He had suicidal thoughts and has told me three times that he wanted to kill himself but I never thought he would really do it.’

Police officers arrived at the scene to investigate and took Somphoth in for questioning.

Meanwhile, the body was sent to the hospital for a post-mortem examination while investigations are ongoing.

An incident report from Pattaya Police station said that both men had been drinking all afternoon and that ‘the victim was heavily intoxicated’. The two had in an argument which allegedly became ‘heated’.

Lieutenant Colonel Sombat Kaew said: ‘There are no cameras that show exactly what happened, so the account from the boyfriend is all the evidence we have at the moment. That will form the case.’

Khlong Toei Market in Bangkok has been closed for three days after a vendor tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday.

The market, located on Rama IV Road, is Bangkok’s biggest wet market with thousands of vendors on-site morning, noon and night with tens of thousands of customers passing through it daily.

The female vendor, who is asymptomatic, has been put in quarantine after testing positive, according to Khlong Toei district director Piyada Niyom. 10 others who had been in close contact with the infected vendor have also been isolated.

The positive case comes after the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration tested over 3,000 vendors and migrant workers in and around the Klong Toey market area on Jan 10.

The market will be closed for cleaning and will reopen on Saturday.