In this Wednesday, July 7, 2021, tourists walk along a mostly empty Patong Beach on Phuket, southern Thailand. A week into an ambitious but risky plan to open the resort island of Phuket to fully-vaccinated visitors, signs were encouraging that the gambit to help breathe new life into the struggling tourism industry was working, even as coronavirus numbers in the rest of Thailand surged Thursday to new record highs. (Photo by Tiwa Suvarnabhanu/AP Photo)





A view of shoes containing messages against the government from night entertainment workers on display during a rally calling for relief measures, outside the Government House in Bangkok, Thailand, 29 June 2021. Night-time entertainment laborers, including massage parlors, spa, bar and karaoke workers, held a rally to call for the government to provide relief measures after the government ordered the closure of all entertainment venues and reimposed COVID-19 restrictions, including a ban on dine-in services at restaurants, a shutdown of all construction sites, quarantine of construction workers dormitories and prohibiting workers from leaving the capital of Bangkok and several provinces for 30 days as a prevention measure to contain the new wave of the COVID-19 pandemic after the outbreak showed no sign of slowing down. (Photo by Narong Sangnak/EPA/EFE)





A Buddhist monk walks past people queueing overnight for free Covid-19 swab testing at Wat Phra Sri Mahathat Woramahawihan in Bangkok, in the early hours of the morning on July 9, 2021. (Photo by Lillian Suwanrumpha/AFP Photo)





Residents wait to receives shots of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine at the Central Vaccination Center in Bangkok, Thailand, Thursday, July 15, 2021. As many Asian countries battle against a new surge of coronavirus infections, for many their first, the slow-flow of vaccine doses from around the world is finally picking up speed, giving hope that low inoculation rates can increase rapidly and help blunt the effect of the rapidly-spreading delta variant. (Photo by Sakchai Lalit/AP Photo)





A health worker administers a dose of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine at the Central Vaccination Center in Bangkok, Thailand, Thursday, July 15, 2021. (Photo by Sakchai Lalit/AP Photo)





Locals wait in line overnight for free coronavirus testing at Wat Phra Si Mahathat temple in Bangkok, Thailand, Friday, July 9, 2021. Faced with rapidly rising numbers of new coronavirus infections and growing concern over the proliferation of the highly contagious delta variant, major Asia-Pacific cities implemented new restrictions Friday in the hope of reversing the trend before health care systems are overwhelmed. (Photo by Sakchai Lalit/AP Photo)





Local residents Stavros from Greece and Valina from Russia dance on an almost empty Kata beach as Phuket reopens to overseas tourists, allowing foreigners fully vaccinated against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) to visit the resort island without quarantine, in Phuket, Thailand on July 1, 2021. (Photo by Jorge Silva/Reuters)





Locals sleep in line overnight for free coronavirus testing at Wat Phra Si Mahathat temple in Bangkok, Thailand, Friday, July 9, 2021. Faced with rapidly rising numbers of new coronavirus infections and growing concern over the proliferation of the highly contagious delta variant, major Asia-Pacific cities implemented new restrictions Friday in the hope of reversing the trend before health care systems are overwhelmed. (Photo by Sakchai Lalit/AP Photo)





People donate an empty coffin for the Wat Ratprakongtham temple Nonthaburi Province, Thailand, Monday, July 12, 2021. Wat Ratprakongtham temple offering free funeral service for people dying from COVID-19 says it is struggling to keep up with 24-hour cremation, and is adding another crematorium as Thailand sees a growing number of cases and deaths in a coronavirus surge that began in early April. (Photo by Sakchai Lalit/AP Photo)





A charred truck sits in the wreckage after and explosion and raging fire at a chemical factory in Samut Prakan province, Thailand, Monday, July 5, 2021. A massive explosion at a factory on the outskirts of Bangkok has damaged homes in the surrounding neighborhoods and prompted the evacuation of a wide area over fears of poisonous fumes from burning chemicals and the possibility of additional denotations. At least one person has been killed and dozens have been injured. (Photo by AP Photo/Stringer)





Patients are evacuated from the Chularat 9 Hospital following a massive explosion and fire at a factory in the Samut Prakan province, Thailand, Monday, July 5, 2021. (Photo by Nava Natthong/AP Photo)





Rising smoke is seen behind the giant Buddha statue in Samut Prakan province, Thailand, Monday, July 5, 2021. (Photo by AP Photo/Stringer)





A firefighter participates in efforts to extinguish a plastic factory after an explosion in Samut Prakan, outside Bangkok, Thailand on July 5, 2021. (Photo by Soe Zeya Tun/Reuters)





The first group of tourists arrive on an Etihad flight from Abu Dhabi at the Phuket International Airport in Phuket, Thailand, Thursday, July 1, 2021. Starting Thursday, Thailand is welcoming back international visitors — as long as they are vaccinated — to its famous southern resort island of Phuket without having to be cooped up in a hotel room for a 14-day quarantine. (Photo by Sakchai Lalit/AP Photo)





In this image made from video, firefighters display a reticulated python captured in Benjasiri Park in Bangkok, Thailand on Thursday, July 15, 2021. Bangkok parkgoers looking for relief from renewed coronavirus restrictions got a slithering surprise Thursday when a python as long as two of the Thai capital’s ubiquitous motorbikes was spotted in one of the popular green space. (Photo by Adam Schreck/AP Photo)





An aerial photograph of the Big Buddha and Kata Beach behind it on June 30, 2021, a day before the Phuket Sandbox tourism scheme that allows visits by people vaccinated against the Covid-19 coronavirus is set to launch. (Photo by Lillian Suwanrumpha/AFP Photo)





A protester looks on during an anti-government demonstration, in Bangkok, Thailand on July 18, 2021. (Photo by Soe Zeya Tun/Reuters)





Police are seen during an anti-government march from Democracy Monument to Government House, in Bangkok, Thailand, July 18, 2021. (Photo by Chalinee Thirasupa/Reuters)





A protester rides a bike as they clash with police during an anti-government demonstration, in Bangkok, Thailand on July 18, 2021. (Photo by Soe Zeya Tun/Reuters)





A protester wearing improvised protective headgear walks away from a cloud of tear gas on July 18, 2021 in Bangkok, Thailand. Student protesters called for a demonstration demanding the resignation of Thailand Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-Cha, despite a ban on gatherings because of the country's current Covid-19 outbreak, and folded a demand for better action in combating the virus into their demands. (Photo by Sirachai Arunrugstichai/Getty Images)