Thailand told to widen quarantine for coronavirus cases

By The Nation

 

Gabriel Leung, Dean of the Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine of the University of Hong Kong

 

Thailand has done well in preventing an outbreak of the new coronavirus but the country can do better by placing both the infected and those suspected of being infected in quarantine as the virus could shed even before an infected person showing symptoms of the disease, said a clinical expert form Hong Kong.

 

“The most important thing now for Thailand and other countries outside of China is to make sure that it remains an exported case scenario, that you contain the imported cases in your country,” said Gabriel Leung, Dean of the Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine of the University of Hong Kong.

 

“But as long as you’ve traffic between two places, you are inevitably going to have some imported cases”.

 

Speaking on the sidelines of the Prince Mahidol Award Conference in Bangkok on Thursday (January 30), he said the number of contracting cases in Thailand was currently very low, indicating that Thailand had the capacity to keep the virus from spreading.

 

Fourteen cases have been confirmed in Thailand, according to the Ministry of Public Health. Five have already been discharged and returned to China with the rest remain isolated in hospitals.

 

Dr Leung said that Thailand was tackling the virus in the right direction including virus contract tracing, medical surveillance and monitoring.

 

However, for confirmed and future cases, Thailand should place them in quarantine even if they have yet to show symptoms as an effective way to prevent the virus from spreading, he said.

 

“Once they are quarantined, think about swabbing them, testing them every day,” said Dr Leung. “Because there are some suggestions that they could shed virus during the incubation period”.

 

Persons infected by the new coronavirus tend to shed the virus when they first have some insignificant symptoms such as sore throat. On the other way round, people infected with SARs don’t shed the virus until they have developed symptoms, such as high fever, making it’s much more difficult to control the spread of coronaviral when compared to SARs".

 

“If you want to improve on what you’re doing, you should quarantine the infected and test them every day,” said Dr Leung.

 

He suggested that the best way to protect individuals from viral infection is to wash hands frequently, not shaking hands and wear face masks when in crowded places. Getting information from reliable sources is important too, he said.

 

“We are not only combating an epidemic, we’re also combating fake news on social media, which actually make controlling the epidemic more difficult. This is a twin challenge,” he said.

 

“Everybody should keep a high sense of alertness. But the most important thing is to protect themselves and to protect others around them by staying calm. Keep calm, be rational and don’t believe in everything you read in media. Trust people who have dedicated their whole life to keep the public healthy” he concluded.

 

Source: https://www.nationthailand.com/news/30381379

 

-- © Copyright The Nation Thailand 2020-01-31

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Did he get this appraisal and recommendations vetted and cleared by our leader - by the way, where is he today - in hiding. 

47 minutes ago, snoop1130 said:

said a clinical expert form Hong Kong.

he isn't thai; thais never listen to non-thais

"The most important thing now for Thailand and other countries outside of China is to make sure that it remains an exported case scenario, that you contain the imported cases in your country."

 

Oups too late... 

"Hong Kong ain't my daddy" ... but China is, eh, better comply or the road & belt gets out.

1 hour ago, snoop1130 said:

Thailand has done well in preventing an outbreak of the new coronavirus

No - they haven't done well. They've been lucky. We're only now seeing the first secondary infections outside of people who traveled to China recently.

 

That there's been none in Thailand so far is pure dumb luck.

 

Give it a week or two and we will know the real reach of this virus outside of China.

 

There are pictures of two Thais doing the rounds on facebook in what look like homemade spacesuits from Market Village in Hua Hin yesterday as a Chinese looking dude fell to the floor, apparently he was having a non flu related seizure

 

1 hour ago, snoop1130 said:

he said the number of contracting cases in Thailand was currently very low, indicating that Thailand had the capacity to keep the virus from spreading.

Or the capacity to keep the real number hidden.

1 hour ago, Artisi said:

Did he get this appraisal and recommendations vetted and cleared by our leader - by the way, where is he today - in hiding. 

He's off sick ... and that's no joke!

24 minutes ago, ukrules said:

We're only now seeing the first secondary infections outside of people who traveled to China recently.

First confirmed one. It's likely gone through a couple of transmissions already, with average R0 somewhere between 2-3. Seeing the Thai who caught it is a taxi driver he would have infected more than 3. My low-end guess is we have 500-1000 carrying the virus in Thailand. By the end of February you can add a couple of zeroes.

Arrest that man if he ever comes here the general must have a plan to admit high spending virus free Chinese only cos its all under control he said so????

2 hours ago, Artisi said:

Did he get this appraisal and recommendations vetted and cleared by our leader - by the way, where is he today - in hiding. 

 

Inquiring minds want to know!  Didn't see any public event pics today AFAIK....

2 hours ago, zydeco said:

Or the capacity to keep the real number hidden.

My thoughts exactly, because they are very good at that, 

I'm anxiously waiting to read the latest report on the condition of bedridden Dear Leader.

33 minutes ago, neeray said:

I'm anxiously waiting to read the latest report on the condition of bedridden Dear Leader.

I know, it's a thriller. I'm hoping we don't hear anything at all for four weeks. Nah, make that four decades.

Thailand will have to bite the bullet just like every other tourist destination. Time to act like adults and prevent possible fatalities. If there is a serious outbreak,  who will take responsibility?

2 hours ago, the guest said:

Thailand will have to bite the bullet just like every other tourist destination. Time to act like adults and prevent possible fatalities. If there is a serious outbreak,  who will take responsibility?

Any of us who have lived here for decades no the answer, don't hold your breath.

 

Of course like all problems of foreign origin, I guess they're working out fee for a NON "Flu" O visa

Foreigners, no I mean aliens, don’t understand Thailand.   

Edited February 1, 20206 yr by Dimple

14 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

“But as long as you’ve traffic between two places, you are inevitably going to have some imported cases”.

Chinese New Year may yet prove to be a "Trojan horse" scenario.

most people don't know that after taking a vaccine, you will also SHED some of the virus and can infect others, even you are symptom free... look up whooping cough

 

and for mister know it all better and don't want to look up any info :

 

Viral shedding is part of the mechanism of virus transmission. Shedding is impossible with killed vaccines or those made using only isolated proteins (most vaccines fall into one of these two classes), but a small number of vaccines contain live attenuated virus which can theoretically infect others.

Done well in what way, just another flippant statement that has no means of measuring validity.

Thailand had better wake up... This is sage advise... Else this virus spreads as it has in China and Thai tourism is dead for years to come. Now is the time for a lockdown... Take the short term economic hit for sake of avoiding a long term disaster

Edited February 1, 20206 yr by Cabradelmar
Spelling

"Trust people who have dedicated their whole life to keep the public healthy” he concluded"

Which is no one in the Thai Government

On 1/31/2020 at 8:15 PM, YetAnother said:

he isn't thai; thais never listen to non-thais

Plus he is an expert, something we have plenty of in Thailand 55555

A baiting troll post and a reply has been removed.

 

A post containing a video from an unapproved YouTube source has been removed.