Thai officials warn TikTok ‘Benadryl Challenge’ can be fatal

Suicides increasing may be the most unfortunate side effect of living through a pandemic. In Thailand, those living in red zones and people afflicted with Covid-19 are the most vulnerable to suicide according to the Department of Mental Health. The increased restrictions tend to lead to depression and high stress for residence, echoing a common fear that the effect of the Covid-19 pandemic increase suicide rates and create a mental health crisis.

Normally nearly 800,000 suicides are recorded around the world each year, and experts believe that attempted suicide numbers are severely underreported. A recent study predicted about 9,570 additional suicides around the world due to unemployment. Financial insecurity, unemployment, loneliness, isolation, loss of social support, and fear of infection and death all contribute to the stress of life during the pandemic.

The suicide crisis helpline in Thailand reported their call volume doubled last year with the onset of Covid-19, with 80% of the calls being finance-related. The Samaritans have 80 volunteers working from home and recently opened a Facebook Messenger account, citing younger people’s preference of messaging over phone calls.

The Thai government attempted to calm financial panic by implementing 5,000 baht payments for 3 months but the rollout was slow and troubled. Last year one woman even drink rat poison outside of the Ministry of Finance to protest flow payments of financial aid. Worse, in a country full of under-the-table jobs like migrants, farmers, and sex workers, the funds were unavailable to many.

Many workers instead took loans that the unpredicted length of the pandemic has made impossible to repay. Household debt reached an all-time high last year with the population’s total debt reaching a record 89% of Thailand’s GDP. People are getting increasingly desperate and hopeless with government assistance programs failing to compensate for the struggles that much of Thailand is facing now.

Studies have shown that in many countries at the beginning of the pandemic and lockdowns, suicide rates actually decreased or remained even as people were hyper-focused on the immediate challenges of daily life. But with Covid-19 dragging on in Thailand, suicide rates tend to creep up, as feelings of long-term hopelessness and economic despair set in.

With Thailand’s tourism heavy economy and the disproportionate strength of Covid-19’s third-wave, the economic effect has been severe. 1.45 million jobs in the tourism sector were lost last year and another 1 million losses are predicted this year. The sudden near-complete drop in tourism income is similar to the 1997 Asian financial crisis, a time which saw suicide rates in Thailand jump 20 to 30%.

Infection- and death-wise, Thailand had escaped the Covid-19 pandemic last year almost unscathed, but the third wave beginning in April dashed all hopes of a mental and economic recovery anytime soon. Covid-19 is spreading much faster and wider than ever before in Thailand, and only 1% of the people have been vaccinated. 80% of death by Covid-19 in Thailand took place just in the last 30 days, pushing feelings of despair in the struggling nation.

If you or anyone you know is in emotional distress, please contact the Samaritans of Thailand 24-hour hotline: 02 713 6791 (English), 02 713 6793 (Thai) or the Thai Mental Health Hotline at 1323 (Thai).

SOURCE: Chiang Rai Times

 

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For Sunday the public health department have announced 2,302 new infections and 24 Covid-related deaths over the past 24 hours. There’s now been a total of 101,447 infections and 589 deaths since the start of Thailand’s tally on January 18, 2020. More than 64,000 are registered as ‘recovered’.

• Starting Monday, restaurants in Bangkok, Nonthaburi (immediately north of Bangkok), Pathum Thani, and Samut Prakan (south east of Bangkok) will be allowed to offer dine-in services at 25% of seating capacity until 9pm.

 

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The Thai public health ministry has announced 3,095 new cases of Covid-19 along with 17 new deaths from the past 24 hours of provincial totals. 877 of the new infections emerged from Thai prisons again after 3 days of reports with high numbers of cases coming out of key Bangkok prisons.

Provincial totals below.

• The CCSA has announced adjustments to the colour-coded zone map of provinces for Covid-19 in Thailand, reducing Red zone provinces. The proposal includes significant downgrading of provinces from the most severely affected Dark Red zones and Red zones to an Orange categorisation. The CCSA is also expected to relax some restrictions on restaurants and other businesses.

2 provinces were moved from Dark Red, with Chon Buri downgraded to Red and Chiang Mai dropping all the way to Orange, reducing it to only 4… Bangkok, Nonthaburi, Samat Prakan and Pathum Thani. Phuket has dropped to an Orange zone despite still getting 10-20 new cases per day over the past week.

More about this story HERE.

• Buriram is pushing hard to get everyone signed up for Covid-19 vaccination and plan on penalties for any at-risk people who refuse the vaccine. The Issan province in Northeast Thailand bordering Cambodia is now the first province in the country to impose punishments for refusal to vaccinate. The government has been strongly urging everyone living or working in Buriram over the age of 18 to comply and apply for vaccinations by the end of this month.

• Yet another Bangkok prison has reported a Coronavirus outbreak, as Klong Prem Central Prison now confirmed 506 Covid-19 infections. The Corrections Department deputy director-general Dr Weerakit Harnpariphan confirmed that this outbreak was discovered through active screening, and a lot more testing still needs to be done.

The prison houses a total population of at least 20,000 inmates amongst the many facilities within its compound. Of note, the Central Women’s Correctional Institution is also on the premise and has recently reported 1,039 Covid-19 infections. The Central Correctional Hospital, Bangkok Special Prison, and the Central Correction Institution for Drug Addicts are also all housed inside, as well as every female prisoner on death row in Thailand.

• Starting tomorrow, visitors to Phuket must either be 1) vaccinated or 2) have a covid-free certificate that is no older than 72 hours. The Phuket Governor says that the island province is still coming up with 10-20 cases per day and if people can’t produce either of the documents they will not be permitted to enter. An earlier decision to allow a 14 day quarantine as a third alternative appears to have been scrapped.

The Governor says the island is determined to reduce the numbers of cases and restrict entry. So it’s vaccination or valid PCR test…

“If not, they cannot come.”

• The world’s aviation industry, one of the hardest hit over the past 14 months, agrees that it is going to be a long recovery back to ‘normal’.

Jeffrey Goh, the CEO of Star Alliance says that the different ways that countries are gradually easing restrictions, and the unpredictable nature of the virus, as well as national regulations on vaccination ‘passports’ will make it a complicated recovery.

• The family of a man who died while infected with Covid-19 is demanding the prime minister, as well as other government officials, pay millions of baht in compensation, citing “negligence” after calls to Covid-19 hotlines went unanswered or were not of help.

35 year old Kunlasub Watthanaphon died on April 23. Kunlasub is said to have contracted the virus from a cluster in Bangkok. Many of the clusters of infections early in the recent outbreak were concentrated in nightlife districts in Bangkok including Thong Lor and Ekkamai.

• All inmates in Thai prisons will be vaccinated against Covid-19 starting next month. The announcement of the nationwide prison vaccination campaign follows this week’s outbreaks infecting nearly 3,000 inmates at 2 Bangkok prisons. There have also been outbreaks at prisons in Chiang Mai and the southern province of Narathiwat.

SOURCES: FRB |Bangkok Post

 

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