“Thailand’s Covid-19 death rate is a quarter of the world average, recovery rate is high”

A spokesman for Thailand’s Ministry of Public Health claimed that the country’s mortality rate from Covid-19 is about a quarter of the world average at just 1.7%, while the recovery rate has climbed past 69%. The world average mortality rate is estimated at 6.4%, in the US it’s around 5.3%, Germany 3.1%, Italy 13.1% and the UK 13.5%. The published mortality rates are from government-announced statistics posted every 24 hours around the world.

The director of the ministry’s Division of Communicable Disease, Dr Sophon Iamsirithaworn, said yesterday that the Covid-19 situation in Thailand is improving as the number of new cases falls, with no new imported cases due a near total ban on incoming flights since early April. Whilst there has been criticism about lack of testing, and suspicion about Thailand’s low case numbers, Thailand’s hospitals have so far coped with the case numbers

“There have been 47 deaths from Covid-19 so far from 2,765 (as of Sunday) accumulated confirmed cases. The mortality rate in Thailand stands at 1.7%, while the average global rate is just over 6%. Of the total cases, 1,689 people have recovered while 964 are still under treatment, which makes the domestic recovery rate 62.5%. This statistic points to the efficiency of treatment by Thai medical communities.”

Sophon says the mortality numbers show male patients have a 4 times higher risk of death from Covid-19. When divided by age group, those over 70 have the highest mortality rate at 12.1%, followed by those aged 50-59 (4%) and 60-69 (3.7%), while the group with lowest risk is 20-29 years old at just 0.2%.

Among the deceased, 41% were diabetic, 36% had high blood pressure, 18% had hyperlipidemia (high cholesterol) and 14% had heart disease.

“However, some have died without any chronic diseases. Therefore the best offence against Covid-19 is to take precautions to prevent oneself from getting infected and seek diagnosis as soon as related symptoms are visible.”

SOURCE: The Nation