More categories of foreigners to be granted entry to Thailand

9 new Covid-19 cases were detected in Thai quarantine facilities, including a patient who may have been infected with the virus a second time, or never fully recovered, according to the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration. Most of the cases were army engineers travelling from South Sudan.

Thailand’s total number of confirmed Covid-19 cases is now at 3,700 with 3,491 recoveries and 59 deaths. 150 people are still receiving medical treatment.

• 6 army engineers, ages 25 to 49, travelling from South Sudan tested positive for Covid-19. They arrived on October 12 and they tested positive 3 days later while in quarantine in Chon Buri. They were admitted to Phramongkutklao Hospital in Bangkok.
• 2 people travelling from the United Arab Emirates tested positive for Covid-19. They both arrived in Thailand on October 9 and tested positive 7 days later. A 25 year old masseuse was first diagnosed with Covid-19 on September 1. After arriving in Thailand, she reported symptoms of a cough and headache. She was quarantined in Bangkok and admitted to the Central Chest Institute in the Nonthaburi province, just outside Bangkok, for treatment. A 22 year old student tested positive while quarantined in Bangkok. He was also admitted to the Central Chest Institute.
• A 26 year old woman travelling from Oman tested positive for Covid-19. She arrived on October 14 and tested positive for the virus 4 days later. She was quarantined in Chon Buri and then admitted to a hospital in Samut Prakan.

Daily new Covid-19 cases in Thailand

Daily new Covid-19 cases in Thailand as of October 19, according to Worldometers.

SOURCE: Bangkok Post

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Half the population in Thailand will be injected with the Covid-19 vaccine once it’s released and available to the public, Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul says. Oxford University and the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca are conducting trails of the new vaccine. Thailand is planned to be the Southeast Asia production site for the new vaccine.

The health minister says the vaccine will be first used on Thai nationals who are in their mid-60s and then the ministry will work to make sure at least 50% of the population is injected with the vaccine.

The Public Health Ministry is also going through the World Health Organisation’s COVAX facility to make sure there is a sufficient supply of a vaccine. The ministry’s deputy permanent secretary Supakit Sirilak says about 65 million doses will be needed for Thailand, adding that 40% will be reserved with COVAX, 40% will go to AstraZeneca and 20% will go to other sources.

Siam Bioscience will be producing the vaccine in Thailand. Director of the National Vaccine Institute Nakorn Premsri says they have the potential to produce up to 200 million doses. Production is expected to start in mid-2021.

“Once the technology transfer agreement is signed, the Thai side will have to be trained on production processes. AstraZeneca’s vaccine is expected to pass Phase 3 testing and production should start in December. After that it needs to register with the FDA in the UK and Thailand, before we can start producing the vaccine mid next year.”

SOURCE: Nation Thailand