THAILAND: Factory Sandbox Programme Set to Minimise Covid Manufacturing Disruptions

The recently-launched Factory Sandbox pilot programme forms part of a government bid to test, vaccinate and isolate factory workers in order to minimise the level of Covid-19-related disruptions within the country’s key export-driven manufacturing industries. Overall, the scheme is intended to protect three million jobs and a sector that accounts for about THB700 billion (US$21 billion) of the country’s GDP.

Focusing on factories that employ at least 500 people, the programme is to prioritise exporters in the automotive, electronics, food and beverages, and medical equipment sectors. In order to qualify for the pilot scheme, factories must operate a field hospital or an isolation facility, while also committing to shuttling their employees to and from work. The initiative will see all relevant workers tested for Covid-19, with all those shown to be positive isolated and all those with a negative result vaccinated.

The initial phase of the project will be restricted to 60 factories in the key manufacturing hubs of Nonthaburi, Pathum Thani, Samut Sakhon, and Chonburi, which together employ some 138,000 local workers. The initiative follows the earlier Phuket Sandbox programme, which sought to reboot activity in one of the country’s most popular tourist destinations.