Thailand officials still aiming for Covid-19 ‘endemic’ status in July

Thailand’s officials say their goal remains to achieve endemic status for Covid-19 on July 1 if certain benchmarks continue to be met. Thailand’s deputy public health minister said in a speech that, if Covid-19 is declared an endemic, mask-wearing rules might ease depending on the Covid-19 situation in each area.

In the plan for endemic status, the number of infections was expected to drop to 1,000-2,000 cases per day by the end of May, after stabilising in April. In his speech, the deputy public health minister, Sathit Pitutecha, said that Thailand has seen a downward trend in the number of Covid-19 infections, even if official numbers underestimated the number of daily cases.

“It’s not that we’re concealing the number of cases but it is possible that some patients who test positive from antigen test kits don’t report their infections.”

This week, Thailand’s Deputy PM and Thai health minister, Anutin Charnvirakul, ordered his ministry to work with the Tourism & Sports Ministry and the Transport Ministry as Thailand prepares to declare Covid-19 endemic. Anutin said he wants all 3 ministries, and other relevant agencies, to work together on facilitating the transition of the virus to endemic status.

The minister added that the public must be kept informed, so that they can remain protected while preparing to live with the coronavirus.

“Downgrading Covid-19 to endemic status must be carried out along with providing health-related knowledge to the people so that they can protect themselves and live with the disease safely.”

SOURCE: Bangkok Post