New Covid-19 response teams to be dispatched to 69 Bangkok communities

In an effort to contain the Covid-19 outbreak in Bangkok where the highly transmissible Delta variant, said to now be the dominant strain, 69 response teams have been set up to conduct rapid Covid-19 tests in high-risk communities to quickly detect infections and contain the virus.

Governor Aswin Kwanmuang says the so-call “Comprehensive Covid-19 Response Teams,” or CCRTs, which are under the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration, are made up of public health officials, security officers and volunteers. The teams will be dispatched to 69 communities classified as high-risk for the coronavirus. Rapid antigen tests will be used on those at risk of infection. The teams will also educate residents in the communities on how to isolate at home to prevent the virus from spreading throughout the community.

“Those who test positive will be immediately sent to community isolation centres in case hospital beds in the area are not available.”

With infection rates in the capital expected to increase due to the rapid-spreading mutated Covid strain, the governor says they plan to have 200 response teams to cover more areas, particularly areas with a dense population, like slum communities which have been at high risk for cluster outbreaks.

Bangkok is the epicentre in the latest and most severe wave of Covid-19 infections. Since April 1, more than 100,000 Covid-19 infections have been reported in Bangkok by Thailand’s Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration.