Covid UPDATE Saturday: 14,260 new infections, news briefs

The Public Health Department have announced another 14,260 infections and 119 Covid-related deaths over the past 24 hours. 655 cases have been detected in Thai prisons. Whilst a slight drop from yesterday’s total new infections it maintains a rising trend in new infections around the country.

3,984 are currently in critical hospital care and 900 people remain on ventilators.

The provincial totals will be published just after lunchtime in Thailand.

• The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has registered 2,661 foreigners and expats aged over 60 years of age. They are now waiting for their vaccination date to be sent to them. You can register HERE but do so soon as the next vaccination targets will be called for registration soon.

• An extension to Thailand’s Emergency Decree has been announced. It’s the 13th extension and will be in place until September 30, another 2 months of the orders which give the Thai government and PM sweeping powers to act without parliamentary permission or debate.

• The Public Health Ministry says the Sinovac Covid-19 vaccine is more than 90% effective in preventing infections and severe symptoms. The announcement follows a study of Thailand’s recipients of the Chinese vaccine.

The study was conducted in Phuket, Samut Sakhon and Chiang Rai provinces and also included DDC staff and employees.

The report says that 2 doses of the CoronaVac vaccines from Sinovac Biotech can provide 88.8% protection against infection and was 84.9% effective against severe lung infection. They also declared that a single dose of AstraZeneca provides 83.4% protection.

They also declared that the Sinovac efficacy against the Covid Delta variant is “also stable, and laboratory tests also prove that a booster dose and mixed doses can boost immunity at a faster and higher rate”.