Weekend party event in Phuket reports positive Covid attendee

In the current third outbreak of Covid-19, 146 front line hospital and medical workers have been infected with the virus. This figure was confirmed by a spokesperson for the CCSA yesterday. Infected staff members have been isolated in mandatory quarantine since being diagnosed.

Contact tracing research found that about 33 of the medical staff contracted Covid-19 by being in direct contact or close proximity to family and friends of infected patients, and from patients who intentionally withheld details of their travel timeline. Patients have been reminded that the government announced intentions to prosecute those who don’t reveal important travel details or otherwise recklessly contribute to the spread of Covid-19 including fines of up to 20,000 baht.

The majority of those affected were doctors and nurses. Mandatory isolation for Covid-19 infected medical front line staff further exacerbates staffing shortages during the surge in Coronavirus infections requiring treatment. With hospitals filling up, doctors and nurses are in high demand and hospital staffing is stretched thin.

The Ministry of Public Health says that they’re hard at work to ensure hospitals, field hospitals, and the new “hospitel” hospital hotels are all well staffed with necessary medical officials to provide care for the growing number of Covid-19 patients.

The medical front line workers contracted Covid-19 treating patients from the clusters of outbreaks, mostly due to spread in entertainment venues around Thailand. Controversy has surrounded many of these outbreaks with police hunting the owners of elite society night clubs in Thong Lor in Bangkok and authorities struggling to get attendees to Phuket’s Kolour festival to come forward for a test.

SOURCE: Pattaya News

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As the Covid-19 third wave reaches in Thailand’s provinces, the main culprit in the spread of the infectious new strain is entertainment venues such as bars, clubs and pubs. With around 1,000 – 1,500 new daily infections over the past week, 71 provinces throughout the country have traced Covid-19 infections back to clusters in bars and nightclubs.

The CCSA announced yesterday that in April alone a total of 6,020 Coronavirus infections were connected to evening entertainment venues.

They confirmed that 40% of all people diagnosed with Covid-19 in Bangkok this month could be traced back to nightlife locations, a total of 1,583 infections. In the other provinces, entertainment spots were also the source of a quarter of all Covid-19 infections.

Young people make up over half of these third-wave cases, with 3,432 Covid-infected people 20 to 29 years old according to the CCSA. While all of Thailand’s 77 provinces now have Covid-19 infections, only 6 provinces don’t have any cases traced to these entertainment venues. Just Chai Nat, Narathiwat, Pattani, Ranong, Satun, and Yala are currently free of Coronavirus infections linked to these nightlife clusters.

1,157 patrons along with 364 bar staff and 348 other people thought to be in close proximity to people who were infected with the Coronavirus came forward and were identified and tested from these entertainment venues. But the CCSA says that accounts for only 27% of the infections connected to nightlife locations, while the majority of people did not cooperate and withheld pertinent information, making the identification and containment of the Covid-19 outbreaks from entertainment venues more difficult.

SOURCE: Bangkok Post

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PM Prayut Chan-o-cha announced yesterday that Thailand is negotiating to buy 5 to 10 million Pfizer-BoiNTech Covid-19 vaccines. 61 million SinoVac and AstraZeneca vaccines are scheduled for delivery over the next 9 months, but with limited effectiveness against the B117 strain and the third wave of Covid-19 spreading around the country, Thailand is trying to supplement its supply, in quantity and variety.

PM Prayut confirmed that terms and conditions, as well as pricing, are in the works and hopes delivery will be in July but could be as late as the end of the year. AstraZeneca jabs are expected to be widely available by July.

While Thailand received praise for very low Covid-19 infection numbers in 2020, the April third wave outbreak, mainly attributed to transmission in nightclubs and entertainment venues, has been much more widespread, and vaccinations have been slow and patchy. The Thai government is facing strong criticism over the slow rollout of vaccination, with only 666,000 jabs given so far.

As of now, over 45,000 people in Thailand have been infected with Covid-19 and 108 people have died from Covid-related illnesses. Record daily infections numbers have finally started to recede slightly, but yesterday saw 1,443 new Coronavirus infections and 4 fatalities. With infections now reaching all 77 provinces, and many classified as red zones, hospitals are filling up and the need for quick vaccinations is urgent and the Pfizer vaccines would be a welcomed arrival.

The Thai government requires all Covid-19 infected people to be hospitalised for treatment or observation, even for asymptomatic cases. This has caused a shortage of hospital beds, with the creation of field hospitals and emergency facilities like the “hospitel” program to turn hotels into overflow hospitals.

Health officials are now looking at the possibility of allowing mildly infected patients to self-isolate at home if cases surge too high and hospitals reach capacity. Officials say there are 9,000 beds available now, 2,000 more than last week, and that people should get a bed within 1 to 2 days. The government is urging hospitals to double their ICU capacity as well.

SOURCE: Reuters

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