Thailand reports youngest death from Covid-19: 2 month old baby

Thailand has seen its youngest death relating to the Covid-19 virus, with a 2 month old baby succumbing to complications with the infection. Doctors say the baby had a heart condition, which could have contributed to its death. Another baby, however, beat the virus recently as a pediatrician says the 1 month old was incredibly lucky.

Infectious disease doctor Suchada Ruenglerdpong says the baby boy was the youngest patient in the Prachuap Khiri Khan Hospital. He allegedly contracted the virus from a family member who was infected at a funeral cluster in the province.

The baby boy was taken to the hospital because he was having trouble breathing. His parents said the boy’s chest seemed to “shrink.” Doctors said the boy had a lung infection but did not need intubation. They say he was treated the same way an adult would be treated for the coronavirus. He was given Favipiravir but was closely monitored as more side effects are possible when giving the medicine to a baby.

Now, Thailand is currently dealing with a third wave of the virus, which has seen the UK variant introduced into its population, causing infections to triple and deaths to increase 6 – fold since the beginning of April. Covid-19 task force spokesman, Taweesin Wisanuyothin, says infections in the capital haven’t slowed.

“New infections found in Bangkok remain high. Overall new cases are still on a rising trend.”

The latest cases included 29 clusters in markets, and most recently, construction sites in the Laksi district. The Public Health Ministry says it is now planning to vaccinate 5 million people by the end of July. The capital, on Monday, saw the highest number of daily new infections at 1,843 out of the nationwide high of 9,635. The unusually high amount of infections comes after 12 prisons in Thailand were found to be infected with Covid, accounting for 6,853 of the daily new infections.

Bangkok authorities say they are teaming with private entities to open 25 vaccination centres by the end of May, with a goal of opening up vaccinations to the general public by June. The announcement comes as Thailand’s capital has seen new Covid-19 clusters, prompting updated goals of inoculating 5 million residents by the end of July. Now, health officials say they are aiming for herd immunity by planning to vaccinate 38,000 to 50,000 people per day.

Today, the public health department has reported 3,394 new cases and 29 new Covid-related deaths. 1,498 of today’s cases come from Thailand’s prisons. Taking the inmate toll out of the equation and the trend is still steady with around 2,000 – 2,500 new cases each day over the past 3 weeks across Thailand.

Source: Chiang Rai Times/Reuters