Covid-19 News & Updates

[PeteC]

Thai Govt facing backlash as third wave of COVID threatens to engulf Thailand

https://www.thaipbsworld.com/thai-govt- ... -thailand/

COVID-19 has been around for more than a year already in Thailand. Since it began spreading in early 2020, experts have been warning about more dangerous waves of infection to come. Yet, when the third wave finally hit this month, the government was seemingly caught ill-prepared.

“We are not that confident. But we are doing our best,” Deputy Public Health Minister Dr Sathit Pitutecha admitted on Sunday (April 11) when asked whether the COVID-19 situation could be controlled. His boss, Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, is now in isolation after attending an April 6 event alongside Transport Minister Saksayam Chidchob, who then tested positive.

During the past week, the number of new cases has risen by hundreds every day – 194 on April 5, 250 on April 6, 334 on April 7, 405 on April 8, 559 on April 9, 789 on April 10, and 967 on April 11. As of press time, more than 4,300 people are being treated for COVID-19 in hospital.

The public is now worried that COVID-19 transmissions – which had been reined in for most of 2020 – will soon spiral out of control. Not surprisingly, medical facilities have experienced a surge in demand for COVID tests and treatment.

COVID patients turned away, tests delayed

In the early hours of Sunday morning, four hospitals reportedly refused treatment to a couple who turned up with their 10-month-old baby and said they had caught COVID-19.

All four hospitals, according to the mother, said they did not have any more beds available for coronavirus patients. After the couple were turned away by the fourth hospital, the mother broke down in tears and went live on social media to reveal her heart-breaking situation. Later in the day, Bhumibol Adulyadej Hospital admitted the baby but refused to provide further details about treatment of the family.

Thailand’s COVID-19 control policy stipulates that people who test positive for the virus must be treated at medical facilities. The policy aims to prevent the serious outbreaks seen in countries where coronavirus patients without serious symptoms are advised to self-isolate at home.

Several private hospitals, including Sukhumvit Hospital and Chao Phya Hospital in Bangkok, have also suspended their COVID-19 testing facilities citing limited resources. Meanwhile, others have said it will take longer than usual for the test results to come back. In controlling a highly-contagious disease, the faster the detection the better. So, the delays underline a big problem.

COVID-19 budget delay

The Rural Doctor Society (RDS) complains that the government has been slow to hand over the Bt5-billion budget for procurement of medical equipment to curb the spread of COVID-19. The Cabinet approved a Bt5.8-billion budget on January 12, but so far only a small portion has been disbursed.

“We do not understand why it’s taking so long for the budget to arrive. We need to buy medical supplies, build negative-pressure rooms, procure ambulances, ventilators, and vital-sign monitors,” the RDS said on its Facebook page recently.

Warning of a looming medical calamity, it urged the government to speed up budget disbursement.

Vaccination questions linger

Although the private sector has been eager to procure COVID-19 vaccines for Thais, the government did not give a clear nod until April 9. Late last month, the Health Service Support Department was still warning private hospitals against accepting COVID-19 vaccine reservations from people.

Health authorities insisted that since the vaccines were only approved for emergency use, private hospitals could not import and administer them. The government has long insisted its vaccination plan is sufficient to control the COVID-19 situation.

However, as of Sunday, only 485,987 people – less than 1 per cent of the Thai population – have had the jab. To achieve herd immunity, around 70 per cent of the population must have COVID-19 antibodies.

Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha responded to the third wave of infections by vowing to remove obstacles to vaccine imports.

“We are glad that the private sector wants to help on this front. We are going to provide vaccination alternatives,” said the PM.

Solutions from the govt

Dr Supakit Sirilak, director-general of the Medical Sciences Department, said his agency is ready to step in if any hospital runs short of COVID-19 tests. Meanwhile, health authorities are preparing a central bed-management system to deal with lack of capacity at individual hospitals.

Sathit explained that the system will show how many beds for coronavirus patients are still available and where. Meanwhile, field hospitals will also be set up to deal with the rising number of COVID-19 patients.

Thammasat University Hospital is reopening its field hospital of 470 beds to accommodate COVID-19 patients transferred by other medical facilities. The Defence Ministry has also said that military bases in Bangkok and nearby provinces will prepare field hospitals with the combined capacity for 3,195 patients.

The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration is also gearing up two hospitals, Bang Khun Thian Geratric Hospital and Ratchaphiphat Hospital, as facilities to treat COVID-19 patients.

“In addition, we will prepare hospitels (hotels repurposed as medical facilities) for people who need to be monitored for 14 days but show no symptoms,” Sathit said.

Meanwhile, Medical Services Department director-general Somsak Akksilp said private hospitals that had run out of beds should refer COVID patients to other hospitals in their network.

Advice unheeded?

Among those who say the government has done too little to combat the pandemic is Dr Thira Woratanarat, a public health expert who teaches at Chulalongkorn University’s Faculty of Medicine.

“COVID-19 is now spreading,” he said via Facebook on Sunday.

The medical lecturer is a stern critic of the government’s COVID-19 policies, disagreeing with several points of its strategy. For example, he thought it was a bad idea to refrain from enforcing strict control measures like lockdowns when the second wave emerged late last year.

In early January, he warned that the country would see the effects of a more relaxed policy in either the middle of January or late March. The third wave of COVID-19 duly emerged in the last week of March.

By Thai PBS World’s General Desk

[sateeb]

Thai Govt facing backlash as third wave of COVID threatens to engulf Thailand

https://www.thaipbsworld.com/thai-govt- ... -thailand/

COVID-19 has been around for more than a year already in Thailand. Since it began spreading in early 2020, experts have been warning about more dangerous waves of infection to come. Yet, when the third wave finally hit this month, the government was seemingly caught ill-prepared.

“We are not that confident. But we are doing our best,” Deputy Public Health Minister Dr Sathit Pitutecha admitted on Sunday (April 11) when asked whether the COVID-19 situation could be controlled. His boss, Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, is now in isolation after attending an April 6 event alongside Transport Minister Saksayam Chidchob, who then tested positive.

During the past week, the number of new cases has risen by hundreds every day – 194 on April 5, 250 on April 6, 334 on April 7, 405 on April 8, 559 on April 9, 789 on April 10, and 967 on April 11. As of press time, more than 4,300 people are being treated for COVID-19 in hospital.

The public is now worried that COVID-19 transmissions – which had been reined in for most of 2020 – will soon spiral out of control. Not surprisingly, medical facilities have experienced a surge in demand for COVID tests and treatment.

COVID patients turned away, tests delayed

In the early hours of Sunday morning, four hospitals reportedly refused treatment to a couple who turned up with their 10-month-old baby and said they had caught COVID-19.

All four hospitals, according to the mother, said they did not have any more beds available for coronavirus patients. After the couple were turned away by the fourth hospital, the mother broke down in tears and went live on social media to reveal her heart-breaking situation. Later in the day, Bhumibol Adulyadej Hospital admitted the baby but refused to provide further details about treatment of the family.

Thailand’s COVID-19 control policy stipulates that people who test positive for the virus must be treated at medical facilities. The policy aims to prevent the serious outbreaks seen in countries where coronavirus patients without serious symptoms are advised to self-isolate at home.

Several private hospitals, including Sukhumvit Hospital and Chao Phya Hospital in Bangkok, have also suspended their COVID-19 testing facilities citing limited resources. Meanwhile, others have said it will take longer than usual for the test results to come back. In controlling a highly-contagious disease, the faster the detection the better. So, the delays underline a big problem.

COVID-19 budget delay

The Rural Doctor Society (RDS) complains that the government has been slow to hand over the Bt5-billion budget for procurement of medical equipment to curb the spread of COVID-19. The Cabinet approved a Bt5.8-billion budget on January 12, but so far only a small portion has been disbursed.

“We do not understand why it’s taking so long for the budget to arrive. We need to buy medical supplies, build negative-pressure rooms, procure ambulances, ventilators, and vital-sign monitors,” the RDS said on its Facebook page recently.

Warning of a looming medical calamity, it urged the government to speed up budget disbursement.

Vaccination questions linger

Although the private sector has been eager to procure COVID-19 vaccines for Thais, the government did not give a clear nod until April 9. Late last month, the Health Service Support Department was still warning private hospitals against accepting COVID-19 vaccine reservations from people.

Health authorities insisted that since the vaccines were only approved for emergency use, private hospitals could not import and administer them. The government has long insisted its vaccination plan is sufficient to control the COVID-19 situation.

However, as of Sunday, only 485,987 people – less than 1 per cent of the Thai population – have had the jab. To achieve herd immunity, around 70 per cent of the population must have COVID-19 antibodies.

Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha responded to the third wave of infections by vowing to remove obstacles to vaccine imports.

“We are glad that the private sector wants to help on this front. We are going to provide vaccination alternatives,” said the PM.

Solutions from the govt

Dr Supakit Sirilak, director-general of the Medical Sciences Department, said his agency is ready to step in if any hospital runs short of COVID-19 tests. Meanwhile, health authorities are preparing a central bed-management system to deal with lack of capacity at individual hospitals.

Sathit explained that the system will show how many beds for coronavirus patients are still available and where. Meanwhile, field hospitals will also be set up to deal with the rising number of COVID-19 patients.

Thammasat University Hospital is reopening its field hospital of 470 beds to accommodate COVID-19 patients transferred by other medical facilities. The Defence Ministry has also said that military bases in Bangkok and nearby provinces will prepare field hospitals with the combined capacity for 3,195 patients.

The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration is also gearing up two hospitals, Bang Khun Thian Geratric Hospital and Ratchaphiphat Hospital, as facilities to treat COVID-19 patients.

“In addition, we will prepare hospitels (hotels repurposed as medical facilities) for people who need to be monitored for 14 days but show no symptoms,” Sathit said.

Meanwhile, Medical Services Department director-general Somsak Akksilp said private hospitals that had run out of beds should refer COVID patients to other hospitals in their network.

Advice unheeded?

Among those who say the government has done too little to combat the pandemic is Dr Thira Woratanarat, a public health expert who teaches at Chulalongkorn University’s Faculty of Medicine.

“COVID-19 is now spreading,” he said via Facebook on Sunday.

The medical lecturer is a stern critic of the government’s COVID-19 policies, disagreeing with several points of its strategy. For example, he thought it was a bad idea to refrain from enforcing strict control measures like lockdowns when the second wave emerged late last year.

In early January, he warned that the country would see the effects of a more relaxed policy in either the middle of January or late March. The third wave of COVID-19 duly emerged in the last week of March.

By Thai PBS World’s General Desk

Are Thai PBS alleging in a roundabout way that our beloved Health Minister was in the Thonglor area at a now infamous venue with the transport Minister (equally infamous member of a well known Buri Ram family)?

Increasingly I am certain that these people are stealing very valuable oxygen and it would have been better for all concerned if their respective fathers had worn a condom

[HHTel]

Health Minister

That title's a joke for someone with no qualifications for the job. It highlights the fact that people get positions because of who they know and not whether they're actually qualified for the job!

[Big Boy]

I thought the big knobs had been vaccinated. If so, its worrying that one has tested positive, although it just proves the vaccine isn't the end of it.

[PeteC]

I thought the big knobs had been vaccinated. If so, its worrying that one has tested positive, although it just proves the vaccine isn't the end of it.

Unless he's under 60 he got the Sinovac, but I recall reading somewhere he just got the first dose before testing positive.

[hhinner]

I thought the big knobs had been vaccinated. If so, its worrying that one has tested positive, although it just proves the vaccine isn't the end of it.

Unless he's under 60 he got the Sinovac, but I recall reading somewhere he just got the first dose before testing positive.

He's not 60 yet and probably got Sinovac when it was rolled out before there was any AZ in the country. According to some reports the first dose of Sinovac is less than 5% efficacious.

Eg

But for a single dose, efficacy in the 28 days between the first and second dose was only three percent -- on par with the margin of error in such studies, it said.

https://news.abs-cbn.com/overseas/04/07 ... protective

[HHTel]

The CCSA site reports today (meaning yesterday of course):

1,335 New Cases
35,910 Total Cases
7,491 in hospital
No further deaths which remain at 97

[Dannie Boy]

The CCSA site reports today (meaning yesterday of course):

1,335 New Cases
35,910 Total Cases
7,491 in hospital
No further deaths which remain at 97

An interesting comparison - the UK has recorded more than 4m Covid cases of which nearly 460,000 required hospitalisation, but as of yesterday there were only 2,537 still in hospital.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Big Boy]

I've also read in a couple of places that most of those are only there because Thai Law/procedure requires hospitalization. I can't substantiate the numbers, but I'm also reading actual sick people are 36, of which 9 are on ventilators.

[Edit] I actually know 3 people in hospital at the moment, and all 3 say they feel fine.
[Edit 2] 2 were identified after 7 days in ASQ and 1 from Maya.

[joelle]

Today's update

[PeteC]

New high for daily virus infections

https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/ge ... infections

The government reported 1,335 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday, the highest number of daily infections since the epidemic emerged in Thailand early last year.

The Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration said that of the 1,335 new infections, only nine were among arrivals from overseas. This brings the total number of confirmed cases to 35,910. The death toll remains unchanged at 97.

Wednesday's figures were the highest since Covid-19 disease was first reported in Thailand.

Bangkok had the most new cases at 351, followed by Chiang Mai (319) and Prachuap Khiri Khan (161).

Opas Karnkawinpong, director-general of the Department of Disease Control, said most cases were linked to nightspots.

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has ordered officials in all state agencies to work at home until the end of the month if possible and recommended that the private sector follow suit, to help to contain the spread of the third outbreak.

Dr Opas said limiting the movement of people would curb the pandemic. Every province could play a key role.

"Every provincial communicable disease committee is a frontline in helping minimise the movement of people," he said.

Authorities in 43 provinces have imposed restrictions on visitors to discourage travel. Surin was the latest, joining 42 others on Tuesday night, according to the Interior Ministry.

The CCSA said the imported cases were three from Malaysia, two from the United States and one each from India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Russia.

[Big Boy]

I can't substantiate the numbers, but I'm also reading actual sick people are 36, of which 9 are on ventilators.

Substantiated on today's announcement:

RB.png (377.59 KiB) Viewed 583 times

[hhinner]

Mulling lockdown in high risk provinces. Including PKK.

https://www.nationthailand.com/news/30404887

[PeteC]

Millions of gallons of disinfectant sprayed around the world each day, perhaps of little benefit? You draw your own conclusions from the below. Long article so please read at link.

COVID-19 rarely spreads through surfaces. So why are we still deep cleaning?

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-00251-4

Associated articles:

https://www.dnaindia.com/health/report- ... ay-2886354

https://www.denverpost.com/2021/04/13/c ... -covid-19/

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-04- ... faces.html

[handdrummer]

Millions of gallons of disinfectant sprayed around the world each day, perhaps of little benefit? You draw your own conclusions from the below. Long article so please read at link.

COVID-19 rarely spreads through surfaces. So why are we still deep cleaning?

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-00251-4

Associated articles:

https://www.dnaindia.com/health/report- ... ay-2886354

https://www.denverpost.com/2021/04/13/c ... -covid-19/

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-04- ... faces.html

It gives people the illusion that they are doing something to prevent the spread of the virus. My wife was doing this with every shopping bag that came into the house and every piece of mail. I finally said, "Stop, it's pointless and the house stinks of bleach." Since I'm "paying the cost to be the boss," she stopped.