Thailand
Bangkok hospitals prepare for possible Covid outbreak

UPDATE: The official number of cases for the past 24 hours in Thailand has now reached 576.
After the fishing town of Samut Sakhon erupted in over 500 new Covid-19 cases,Bangkok hospitals are now on high alert in preparation for a possible surge in cases and patients.
Samut Sakhon, neighbouring Greater Bangkok, is now going into a partial lockdown which is set to last until at least January 3. Such lockdown measures include a 10pm – 5am curfew, police checkpoints along with hospitals increasing covid tests on those patients who appear to have symptoms. Hospital wards are now also preparing for a surge in Covid infections according to an unnamed doctor at Bangkok’s Sriraj Hospital.
“We have been told to prepare as if a second outbreak was imminent, so hospital heads are assigning shifts and emergency response units.”
“Because the province is so close to us and because of the large number of cases they found, there is a high possibility that we will see some cases in Bangkok.”
The recent surge in Covid infections has been partly attributed to Thai workers sneaking across the borderfrom Myanmar undetected in Chiang Rai and other provinces. It was only after returning from Myanmar, who has seen a surge in cases, that the workers developed symptoms.
Those Thais, who skirted quarantine requirements, were arrested and charged. Such a breach has worried officials as the recent news of 548 cases in Samut Sakhon significantly counts for a large portion of the only 4,000 plus cases reported in the kingdom since the virus outbreak began. The new surge in cases makes up the largest amount of cases reported per day since the pandemic started.
Thailand has recorded little to no locally transmitted cases for months, due to its robust healthcare system, lockdowns, and its volunteer medical community, who have taken it upon themselves to vigorously test and monitor those in remote communities.
Now, it seems that Covid may be back in the kingdom to kick off the new year, as such a surge in daily cases has officials concerned.
At this stage there has been no announcements about neighbouring Bangkok imposing any additional restrictions. The Thaiger will keep an eye on all the latest news as the situation develops.
SOURCE: Thai Enquirer
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Coronavirus (Covid-19)
CCSA Update: 59 new Covid-19 cases and 1 death

The new wave of cases has been on a downward slope in recent weeks. Today’s count of 59 new Covid-19 cases is the lowest daily count since mid-December. A coronavirus-related death was also reported today in the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration’s daily briefing.
A 48 year old Thai woman died after testing positive for Covid-19. The woman worked as a driver for migrant workers. No other information was released about her in the CCSA’s English-language report. It’s unclear if she had pre-existing conditions.
Out of the 59 new Covid-19 cases, 28 are local transmissions, 23 cases were detected in proactive testing and 8 cases detected in quarantine for those entering Thailand from abroad.
Since the start of the pandemic, Thailand has reported a total of 12,653 Covid-19 cases and 71 deaths. The new wave of Covid-19 cases has spread to 62 of Thailand’s 77 provinces.

Active Covid-19 cases in Thailand as of January 19, according to Worldometers.
SOURCE:CCSA
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Economy
Shoppers disgruntled as registration for co-payment scheme fills up in 10 minutes

Social media users are up in arms after registration for the government’s Kon La Khreung (“Let’s Go Halves”) co-payment scheme filled up within 10 minutes. The scheme, first introduced as an economic stimulus measure in the wake of the Covid-19 crisis, gives shoppers 50% off the purchase of everyday items, up to 150 baht a day and capped at 3,500 baht for the duration of the scheme.
The third phase of registration had a quota of 1.34 million users, but interested parties had to be quick. Having lost their chance to register, many disgruntled people took to social media to complain, with the hashtag #คนละครึ่งเฟส3 (#Let’s Go Halves3) trending on Twitter.
Several netizens say they filled out the online registration form at exactly 6.01am but were then forced to wait for the one-time password to be delivered to their phones before they could complete the process. In many instances, by the time they received the OTP code, registration was full. Some say they had to wait over 5 minutes to receive the password, which caused them to miss the small window for registration.
According to a Nation Thailand report, one person has described the scheme as nothing more than a government PR stunt, pointing out that, despite being funded by taxpayers’ money, only some people can avail of it.
SOURCE: Nation Thailand
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Coronavirus (Covid-19)
AstraZeneca vaccine could be approved for emergency use in Thailand this week

Thailand’s Food and Drug Administration is likely to approve a Covid-19 vaccine developed by AstraZeneca in partnership with Oxford University as early as this week. The vaccine, already given the go-ahead in the US and UK, would be approved for emergency use, with administration likely to begin next month. Healthcare workers and those with underlying conditions will be prioritised.
Opas Karnkawinpong from the Disease Control Department says the FDA’s review of the vaccine’s efficacy and safety is going well. Thailand has fallen behind its neighbours in terms of vaccine administration, with a number of countries in the region already starting their roll-out. Indonesia kicked things off last week, with President Joko Widodo the first to receive China’s Sinovac jab.
Thailand is expected to take delivery of 200,000 doses of the Chinese vaccine next month, but questions linger over its efficacy, which was recently revised downwards by researchers in Brazil. The vaccine has not yet completed phase 3 trials and Thailand’s health officials say it may not gain FDA approval until February 14, as the manufacturer has no representation in the Kingdom.
Thailand has signed a technology-transfer agreement with AstraZeneca to produce that vaccine locally. The jab will be manufactured by Siam Bioscience, a pharmaceutical company owned by the Monarchy. Surachok Tangwiwat from the FDA says the doses currently subject to approval have been produced by other countries, but did not specify which ones, how many doses have been imported, or at what cost.
The AstraZeneca vaccine has completed phase 3 trials and has been shown to be 70% effective, less than the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. However, the World Health Organisation has previously stated that a vaccine only needs to be over 50% effective to meet the global threshold for regulatory approval.
SOURCE: Coconuts
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Gosport
Sunday, December 20, 2020 at 10:28 am
Good luck. wish all well.
Patrick Kelly
Sunday, December 20, 2020 at 10:50 am
The Wuhan virus unfortunately is not disappearing anytime soon. One fifth of the global population will not have access to a vaccine until another year or more. But then there’s the Travel Stimulus, so maybe everything will be ok!
Issan John
Sunday, December 20, 2020 at 2:22 pm
“One fifth” ?
If the UK keeps up its vaccinations at the present rate, it’ll be another ten years until the UK population’s been vaccinated, once.
Patrick Kelly
Sunday, December 20, 2020 at 10:49 pm
Yep One Fifth….
Even if the drug makers all produce effective, safe vaccines and meet their maximum global manufacturing targets, the study said “at least a fifth of the world’s population would not have access to vaccines until 2022”.
BMJ Medical Journal
Leo Z
Sunday, December 20, 2020 at 11:40 pm
No, no, “it’s the dirty farangs who are bringing COVID to Thailand”.
Johnny Dee
Monday, December 21, 2020 at 9:57 am
As Iv said many months ago this China virus is going to be around for quite sometime we have to live with it be safe be careful and shelter the elderly. Life has to go on. Stay safe guys and wish everyone well