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Thai public health ministry warns medical workers of new Covid-19 wave in a secret document

Petch PetpailinPublished: 11:10, 05 July 2022| Updated: 11:43, 05 July 2022

199 3 minutes read

Thai public health ministry warns medical workers of new Covid-19 wave in a secret document

The Permanent Secretary of the Thai Public Health Ministry, Kiattiphum Wongarajit, has launched an urgent report to warn the provincial public health officers of the “new wave” of Covid-19 in Thailand.

The official Facebook page of the Rural Doctor Society reported on their “urgent and secret document” to the public yesterday. The page said… “The warning sign to get ready for the new Covid-19 wave. The permanent secretary launched the document to the provincial public health officers in each province. The date of the document is June 30.”

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“The document urges each healthcare service centre to get ready due to the increasing numbers of new Covid-19 cases in various areas. Get the hospital beds ready, and prepare the system to transfer patients with severe symptoms. Please don’t be careless people.”

In the document, the MOPH urges provincial public health officers in every province to prepare according to 8 guidelines…

First, inform every medical worker about the increasing numbers of Covic-19 patients and protect themselves according to the universal precautions.

Second, prepare medicines and Covid-19 prevention equipment.

Third, prepare hospital beds for patients, especially those with critical symptoms.

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Forth, practice transferring processes in case patients need a specific treatment from other hospitals.

Fifth, urge medical workers to get a booster dose of a Covid-19 vaccine.

Sixth, inform residents on how to protect themselves from Covid-19 and prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

Seventh, collaborate with relevant departments to create a plan for controlling and preventing the spread of Covid-19.

Eighth, gather and update all data related to Covid-19 .

Yesterday, a doctor from the Internal Medicine Department of Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University, Nitiphat Chierakul, posted on his personal Facebook saying the Covid-19 situation in Thailand is currently becoming more serious. The doctor urged the government to reveal the truth to the public.

Nitiphat claimed that the Covid-19 new cases at the end of last week reached 50,000 cases a day, which is different from what the public health ministry is reporting daily, at about 2,000 infections per day. Nitiphat said the medical workers in the big hospitals, especially in Bangkok, are working very hard, and available hospital beds are decreasing.

At the end of the post, the doctor included the hashtag that said “Don’t be in a hurry in taking off masks, Covid-19 is still there.”

The CCSA’s official daily infection reports indicate a steep drop from some 28,000 daily infections on April 1, 2022, to around 2,000 – 3,000 daily each day over the past few weeks. There are also daily reports of 4,000 – 6,000 daily infections reported from ATK tests but are not included in the CCSA’s daily infection count.

Three Bangkok hospitals have public warned of the rising number of new Covid infections and increased hospital admissions. They are speculating that most of the new Covid infections are from the Ba.4 and BA.5 Omicron sub-variants.

The CCSA are yet to address the claims contained in the unpublished document from the public health ministry.

POST FROM THE NBT’s FACEBOOK PAGE @ 11am, July 5…

Health authorities have postponed their evaluation of the COVID-19 situation and the BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron sub-variants in pursuit of greater clarity on the issue. The Center for COVID-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) will instead make its assessment on Friday (8 July).

National Security Council Secretary-General Gen Supoj Malaniyom said moving the CCSA discussion on the endemic transition plan scheduled for last Friday (1 July) was necessitated by the recent easing of disease control measures, which in turn required adjustments and clarification on the transition. The health ministry is now making the necessary adjustments and will be presenting the plan to the CCSA meeting for acknowledgment and endorsement.

Gen Supoj noted that relevant medical personnel are still performing analyses and making their determinations, but assured that authorities were prepared to manage the situation. He added, however, that members of the public are encouraged to continue following disease prevention guidelines.

Deputy Public Health Minister Dr Sathit Pitutecha meanwhile said the transition to the post-pandemic phase does not mean everyone should remove their face masks. He nevertheless indicated that new infections are not expected to result in a rise in severe cases or fatalities, adding that the current number of available hospital beds is expected to be adequate.

Dr Sathit also encouraged people, especially members of vulnerable groups, to get their COVID booster vaccines as soon as possible.

SOURCE: Khaosod | Rural Doctor Society

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Petch Petpailin

Petpailin, or Petch, is a Thai translator and writer for The Thaiger who focuses on translating breakingThai news stories into English. With a background in field journalism, Petch brings several years of experience to the English News desk at The Thaiger. Before joining The Thaiger, Petch worked as a content writer for several known blogging sites in Bangkok, including Happio and The Smart Local. Her articles have been syndicated by many big publishers in Thailand and internationally, including the Daily Mail, The Sun and the Bangkok Post. She is a news writer who stops reading news on the weekends to spend more time cafe hopping and petting dwarf shrimp! But during office hours, you can find Petch on LinkedIn and you can reach her by email at petch@thethaiger.com.