BANGKOK, Dec. 7 (Xinhua) -- No lockdown measures have been or will be taken as falsely rumored due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Thailand's northern provinces of Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai, said a senior government official on Monday.

The authorities have not planned to take lockdown measures against the COVID-19 in the northern provinces where certain Thai females have been confirmed of infection and are currently hospitalized, according to the Department of Disease Control's acting director-general Opas Kankawinphong.

In Monday's press conference, Opas said the people are free to go anywhere in the northern provinces and need not subsequently undergo a 14-day quarantine.

Opas advised the people not to panic over such unconfirmed hearsay about the pandemic, saying the situation has been effectively put under control.

His comments were made in response to social panic with those women testing positive for the coronavirus after they had returned from Myanmar's Tachileik township to Mae Sai district of Chiang Rai.