Leading doctor says Thailand’s Covid success faces threat from rising cases in neighbouring countries

A leading academic at Mahidol University says rising cases of Covid-19 in neighbouring countries may prove a threat to Thailand’s apparent success in suppressing the virus. Prasit Watthana, dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Siriroj Hospital, says that while countries like Singapore, South Korea, and Australia have demonstrated success in bringing the virus under control, rising numbers in Malaysia and Myanmar may pose a threat. Yesterday, Malaysia recorded a new high of 12 deaths and 1,054 new cases. On the same day, Myanmar reported 25 deaths and 1,197 new cases.

Prasit says global cases are rising at a rate of around 1 million every 2 days, with many European countries recording second waves as the winter months mean people are spending more time indoors and generally not adopting practices such as wearing masks. Europe has now reached a milestone of over 11 million cases. The US continues to be one of the worst-affected countries in the world, recording around 100,000 new cases a day.

The race for a vaccine is gathering pace, with Prasit saying phase 3 trials are expected to have a 50% success rate. He is hopeful a vaccine could be available by the middle of 2021. Meanwhile, he says the best protection against Covid-19 is to wear a mask, wash hands regularly and to observe social distancing.

SOURCE: Nation Thailand