Covid UPDATE Saturday: 4,803 cases and 34 deaths

This morning Thailand’s public health department has announced another 34 deaths and 4,803 new Covid infections in the past 24 hours. A staggering 2,702 of the new cases have emerged from Thailand’s overcrowded prisons. More than 30 people have died each day from Covid-related causes over the past 4 days.

A total of 120,916 people in Thailand have now been infected with Covid since the start of the pandemic.

• Thailand added the Sinopharm vaccine for emergency use, after the Thai FDA’s approval yesterday. Biogenetech submitted a registration application that has been under consideration by the FDA until receiving approval yesterday. Chinese-developed Sinopharm joins Sinovac, AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, and Moderna to be officially approved for use in Thailand.

The approval was announced shortly after it was revealed that Princess Chulabhorn had negotiated a private batch of 1 million Sinopharm vaccines for the Chulabhorn Royal Acadamy that she sponsors, set to arrive next month. Princess Chulabhorn is one of HM The King’s sisters.

The declaration appeared to catch government officials off guard, as they were seemingly unaware of the deal until the announcement. The academy was not registered with the FDA to import Covid-19 vaccines, nor did it have any permits for importing medication. 20 million Sinopharm vaccines in total were arranged to be sold from Accap Assets to the Royal Academy.

• Malaysia is going back into a full lockdown for 2 weeks, starting this Tuesday. The Malaysian PM Muhyiddin Yassin announced the nationwide “total lockdown” as the country battles with a new surge of Covid-19.

The lockdown will run from June 1 – 14 and only essential and emergency services would remain in operation.

• A new cluster of 800 infections has been detected in Samut Prakan, directly south east of Bangkok, after speculation that Covid spread to a high-density complex of 8,000 residents.

The district chief led a team of public health and immigration officers to test over 8,000 Thai and foreign workers, mostly Burmese, living at the Sin Charoen Thani housing complex. Some of the residents work at the Bang Pu industrial estate where hundreds have already tested positive.

SOURCES: FRB | Bangkok Post | NBT