Daily Covid-19 cases in Bangkok spike

Bangkok‘s daily number of Covid-19 cases has experienced a significant spike, nearly doubling from 400 to 700 in the wake of the city’s recent Songkran festival. This has led to growing concerns among local authorities, who fear that the true extent of the situation might not yet be fully understood.

The deputy City Clerk at the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA), Dr. Wantanee Watana, has warned that the situation may deteriorate further, with some cases potentially not having been reported to the relevant authorities, or still being in the process of being recorded. This could result in the daily number of Covid-19 cases in the Thai capital rising even further to approximately 1,000 cases per day.

Despite the alarming surge in the quantity of reported cases, Dr. Wantanee has urged the public not to panic over the sudden resurgence of infections. She stated that the majority of new cases appear to involve older sub-variants of the virus rather than the emerging Omicron sub-variant XBB.1.16, which has registered 27 reported instances so far. Therefore, this issue should not be a cause for immediate concern.

Nonetheless, in order to ensure the continued safety of vulnerable individuals, Dr. Wantanee has strongly advised senior citizens and those with existing chronic health issues to receive bivalent vaccines such as Pfizer, Moderna, or AstraZeneca. This applies to both booster shots and initial vaccinations for those who are yet to receive their jabs.

These vaccines are available free of charge courtesy of the BMA, and can be obtained at Vajira Hospital as well as 69 other designated public centres throughout the city, Bangkok Post reported.

In a related incident, yesterday saw the tragic discovery of a homeless man’s body in front of a bank situated in the Tha Phra Chan area of Bangkok. The man, believed to be in his 50s, had tested positive for the Covid-19 virus, and authorities have so far been unable to identify him in the absence of any identification documents.

Pol Lt Yosita Harikul, deputy inspector of Chana Songkhram police station, has reported that initial autopsy results indicate that pneumonia was the probable cause of the man’s untimely death. In order to confirm this, the body will be transported to the forensic department of Vajira Hospital for a more comprehensive examination.