Factory Sandbox to protect US$21bil sector

Key sector: Employees trim smoked rubber sheets at the Thai Hua Rubber factory in Thailand. The sandbox test-isolation programme can be applied to about 60,000 factories with a huge workforce. ― Bloomberg

BANGKOK: Thailand has launched a pilot programme to test, vaccinate and isolate factory workers to limit Covid-19-related disruptions to its export-driven manufacturing industry, one of the few bright spots in an economy crushed by the virus.

The “Factory Sandbox” initiative aims to protect three million jobs and support manufacturers who contribute about 700 billion baht (US$21bil or RM89.04bil) to gross domestic product, according to a government statement this week.