National –
Thai Buddhists are gathering at local temples this morning, February 16th, to make merit and celebrate the occasion of Makha Bucha Day.
In Nakhon Si Thammarat, the Deputy Governor and the provincial authorities had organized a monk offering event in front of the famous Phra Mahathat Woramahawihan Temple at 6:00 AM. under the preventive measures of Covid-19 Coronavirus.
A group of families and associations were seen participating in the offerings before walking up to the temple to make merit. However, the number of participants was significantly not as high as the previous year due to the concern over the Omicron variant and the high infection rates in the province since New Year.
In Chiang Mai, local people were gathering at midnight on Wednesday to join the yearly midnight offerings at Upakut Temple with Covid-19 measure mandates from the Ministry of Public Health to prevent the spread of the disease.
Under the new regulations, Buddhists with facial masks were allowed to line up and enter the temple with a limited number of people per round to offer rice and dry food to monks.
In Bangkok, the Bangkok Mass Transit Authority (BMTA) has rescheduled its bus and shuttle bus routes to facilitate people traveling to celebrate the Buddhist day. The operations would strictly follow the public health regulations and make sure that all vehicles were in good condition before services.
However, according to a Bangkok Poll by Bangkok University, the majority of the Thai Buddhists, accountable for 63.5 percent of the survey, said that they did not want to go to a temple to make merit due to the Covid-19 pandemic situation.
Although making merit and Buddhist practices online was also available under the New Normal scheme, most of the people taking part in the poll, or about 80.9 percent, were not interested to do so as they would prefer traditional offline practices and said they would “wait” until the situation with Covid-19 improved and future holidays.
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