covid-19 tests

[rodknock]

how many people have been tested for corona virus in Thailand.

am unable to find an up to date answer on the web?

[ukrules]

You're not likely to find this answer anywhere.

 

It's going to be an embarrassment when compared to many other countries.

 

I'd like to see the number of tests per 100k people in Thailand then directly compare it to places like South Korea, Japan, Singapore, etc.

[mauGR1]

8 minutes ago, ukrules said:

It's going to be an embarrassment when compared to many other countries.

 

As far as i know, there are not reliable tests for corona virus, in that case, all countries should be embarrassed.

[4MyEgo]

32 minutes ago, rodknock said:

am unable to find an up to date answer on the web?

I don't have the numbers but this graph which was in another posted topic was put down by a TVF member, it should give you a rough idea that it is nowhere where it should be.

 

 Look all the way to the bottom and you will see Thailand just under the Philippines and above Nigeria.

[sapson]

A previous daily numbers thread had a graph with the numbers tested quoted at 84,000 or roughly 0.12 % of  a 70 million population...... simple the less you test the fewer positives.

 

So as you see Thailand has COVID under control and their is no evidence of prostitutes in Pattaya, both statements from the ministry of delusion.

 

 

[DavisH]

227,860 as of a couple of days ago. 

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/#repro

[DavisH]

2 hours ago, ukrules said:

You're not likely to find this answer anywhere.

 

It's going to be an embarrassment when compared to many other countries.

 

I'd like to see the number of tests per 100k people in Thailand then directly compare it to places like South Korea, Japan, Singapore, etc.

Thailand doesn't NEED to same testing rate as other countries, because far fewer people are presenting with symptoms. Developed countries also have much larger budgets to do many tests. Due to the low number of positive cases, the government is doing more pre-emptive testing and is finding a few positive cases, but not many. 

 

Who do you suggest be tested? Just walk out in the street and do random testing? That is an utter waste of resources. 

[ukrules]

25 minutes ago, DavisH said:

Who do you suggest be tested? Just walk out in the street and do random testing? That is an utter waste of resources.

Random sampling is how you measure the spread of disease.

 

They will do this going forward (accurate antibody tests are now being produced in some locations) but I doubt we will find out the results unless they somehow make Thailand appear glorious in victory ????

 

Edited May 7, 2020 by ukrules

[ukrules]

2 hours ago, mauGR1 said:

As far as i know, there are not reliable tests for corona virus, in that case, all countries should be embarrassed.

That changed this week.

[Krataiboy]

Random tests would be useful to show the geographical spread of the virus and provide some idea of how far away we are from achieving herd immunity.

 

Without them, the government will be flying blind in terms of knowing whether to hit the brake or the accelerator in terms of lifting or reimposing restrictions.

 

The crunch will come when schools reopen. Assuming the virus is dormant rather than dead, many children will become asymptomatic carriers able unknowingly to infect elderly relatives, with potentially disastrous results.

 

For this reason, the government should equip all schools and colleges with screening facilities to test staff and students on their return to the classroom and at regular intervals thereafter.

[natway09]

I am not sure that vast amounts of testing are going to achieve anything at this time.

In the UK & the US it has obviously proved to be "somthing that we are doing" but if the many non conformists will not practice decent personal hygiene, hand sanitizers, wear masks social distancing,

all the testing will amount to little.

There is no magic wand here & will not be available for at least 6 months.

[robertson468]

18 hours ago, ukrules said:

You're not likely to find this answer anywhere.

 

It's going to be an embarrassment when compared to many other countries.

 

I'd like to see the number of tests per 100k people in Thailand then directly compare it to places like South Korea, Japan, Singapore, etc.

About .35% of the population.  This is why UK looks so bad, yet the statistics for Thailand look so good.  Hopefully it will not come back to bite them on the backside in due course.

[jojothai]

11 minutes ago, natway09 said:

all the testing will amount to little.

If you read the posts by ukrules and Krataiboy above, you may begin to understand.

Because there has been so little testing here, we have no way of knowing how well spread or not the virus is. The Government is flying blind.

There was a report of random testing in Afghanistan finding about 30% of people had the virus.

So many people can be asymptomatic.

Testing is the only way to try to find out how much risk there is out there that we will be exposed to when the restrictions are eased. We need to know the risk of a second wave.

Flying on a wing and a prayer is not the answer to the situation. 

[Puccini]

There is no Covid-19 test.

 

Some countries do wide-spread testing for SARS-CoV-2, other countries do not. I suspect that Thailand only does the test with RT-PCR on persons with Covid-19 symptoms who are treated in hospitals, hence tho very low number of tests in Thailand.

[Paul DS]

19 hours ago, ukrules said:

You're not likely to find this answer anywhere.

 

It's going to be an embarrassment when compared to many other countries.

 

I'd like to see the number of tests per 100k people in Thailand then directly compare it to places like South Korea, Japan, Singapore, etc.

They have tested millions....so they say!  Stick a temperature gauge on them...tested!!

[jimn]

18 hours ago, DavisH said:

Thailand doesn't NEED to same testing rate as other countries, because far fewer people are presenting with symptoms. Developed countries also have much larger budgets to do many tests. Due to the low number of positive cases, the government is doing more pre-emptive testing and is finding a few positive cases, but not many. 

 

Who do you suggest be tested? Just walk out in the street and do random testing? That is an utter waste of resources. 

Absolutely 100% right, I have given up arguing with all the so called self appointed experts on Thai Visa who think they know best. They cant get past their own prejudice opinion about Thailand. Some are bitter about having to go home and the rest are unhappy about being over here. I know exactly where I would rather be during this crisis and its over here. Never have I felt that the virus has taken hold in a major way in Thailand because of the heat and humidity. This together with mask wearing, Thais not being tactile people, temperature checks and hand sanitiser everywhere.

[jimn]

1 hour ago, jojothai said:

If you read the posts by ukrules and Krataiboy above, you may begin to understand.

Because there has been so little testing here, we have no way of knowing how well spread or not the virus is. The Government is flying blind.

There was a report of random testing in Afghanistan finding about 30% of people had the virus.

So many people can be asymptomatic.

Testing is the only way to try to find out how much risk there is out there that we will be exposed to when the restrictions are eased. We need to know the risk of a second wave.

Flying on a wing and a prayer is not the answer to the situation. 

In my opinion it makes no difference when the restrictions are eased. The fact is that there is no major epidemic here. Look at the 1,000's of people who left Pattaya and Bangkok by bus before the restrictions started. Everyone predicated loads of cases in Issan etc, it didnt happen. Thai's by their very nature sit in groups, eat in groups, sleep in close proximity. Where are the new cases? Where are the deaths? Almost non existant. 

[mauGR1]

18 hours ago, ukrules said:

That changed this week.

Not sure what you mean, although i guess you're keeping up with the news.

I was referring to something i read about the scientist/s who invented the test, and they were saying that the test is only 80% reliable IF performed correctly.

Sorry, too lazy to look for links.

[mrfill]

3 hours ago, natway09 said:

I am not sure that vast amounts of testing are going to achieve anything at this time.

In the UK & the US it has obviously proved to be "somthing that we are doing" but if the many non conformists will not practice decent personal hygiene, hand sanitizers, wear masks social distancing,

all the testing will amount to little.

There is no magic wand here & will not be available for at least 6 months.

Bear in mind that the UK target of 100K per day has only been achieved twice and that was because they counted tests sent out in the post.

They also moved the goalposts by saying they count testing capacity whereas the original pledge was to test 100K people per day. Notwithstanding that, the Prime Minister himself said on 25th March that he 'hoped' 250,000 people a day would be tested by the end of April.

https://www.ft.com/content/fce110fc-6eaf-11ea-89df-41bea055720b

[ukrules]

Bear in mind that if there aren't 100k new patients per day, every day forever then who are you going to test?

[mrfill]

21 minutes ago, ukrules said:

Bear in mind that if there aren't 100k new patients per day, every day forever then who are you going to test?

They are supposed to be testing key workers, NHS staff and those working in nursing homes. Mobile stations have been set up so its not just for patients in hospital. Basically, what should have been done 7 weeks ago, but they were not prepared and only had 2 labs capable of analysing the test . Trying to book an appointment is very hit and miss as the booking system is not always functioning.

[Max69xl]

22 hours ago, ukrules said:

You're not likely to find this answer anywhere.

 

It's going to be an embarrassment when compared to many other countries.

 

I'd like to see the number of tests per 100k people in Thailand then directly compare it to places like South Korea, Japan, Singapore, etc.

How did you manage to find this website when you can't find the largest newspapers online incl.online websites? This is just a small part of an article published today in The Nation:

"Taweesin also gave an update on Thailand’s battle against coronavirus. As of May 4, around 230,000 people have been tested for Covid-19, a ratio of 3,421 per one million population. The department has targeted a test rate of 6,000 per one million, or 400,000 in total, meaning another 170,000 people nationwide will be tested." Compared to other countries in both Asia and Europe the numbers are ridiculously low. 

[jojothai]

14 hours ago, jimn said:

Look at the 1,000's of people who left Pattaya and Bangkok by bus before the restrictions started. Everyone predicated loads of cases in Issan etc, it didnt happen. Thai's by their very nature sit in groups, eat in groups, sleep in close proximity. Where are the new cases? Where are the deaths? Almost non existant. 

Just because people dont die (or die from other causes without a test) does not mean the virus is not there and spreading.

If by some magical amulet the thais dont seem to get infected badly, it does not mean the virus is not there.

You dont know unless you test and find out.

If we are in a paradise where the virus cannot spread then we need to know. That would soon get the tourists back.

How are you going to know unless you test?

Edited May 9, 2020 by jojothai
Added comment

[jimn]

2 hours ago, jojothai said:

Just because people dont die (or die from other causes without a test) does not mean the virus is not there and spreading.

If by some magical amulet the thais dont seem to get infected badly, it does not mean the virus is not there.

You dont know unless you test and find out.

If we are in a paradise where the virus cannot spread then we need to know. That would soon get the tourists back.

How are you going to know unless you test?

Because Thailand does not have the capacity to test like other western countries, they are doing contact tracing which works better for them. Stop trying to read to much into it, if you do get it here, then for a small number of people its a minor issue. I refer again to almost empty hospitals and very low death rate. We need to get on with life over here and stop worrying about it. The Swedish model will end up proving to be best practice in my humble opinion.

[tlock]

54 minutes ago, jimn said:

Because Thailand does not have the capacity to test like other western countries, they are doing contact tracing which works better for them. Stop trying to read to much into it, if you do get it here, then for a small number of people its a minor issue. I refer again to almost empty hospitals and very low death rate. We need to get on with life over here and stop worrying about it. The Swedish model will end up proving to be best practice in my humble opinion.

 

Yes I agree- I think people have gotten obsessed with finding the number of people currently infected with covid-19 and forgotten WHY we care about it.  We don't want the hospitals to be overwhelmed and lots of people to die.  Those are the numbers to focus on.  The models have been proven disastrously wrong.  I think people want these numbers to input into the models or something?  OMG if 4 million people have it now, it's exponential, so it means that 8 million will have it tomorrow if we re-open...  

 

I do agree with what others have said- if the hospitals were being overwhelmed in Thailand we would have heard about it via social media.  It simply does not seem to be the case.  

 

 

[jojothai]

6 hours ago, jimn said:

Because Thailand does not have the capacity to test like other western countries, they are doing contact tracing which works better for them. Stop trying to read to much into it, if you do get it here, then for a small number of people its a minor issue. I refer again to almost empty hospitals and very low death rate. We need to get on with life over here and stop worrying about it. The Swedish model will end up proving to be best practice in my humble opinion.

You can have your own opinion.

The WHO gave advice that some people choose to ignore.

In my opinion the autocracy here do not want to do the testing. They are afraid to know the actual status, it could reflect very badly on how they are portraying things.

Its not a minor issue in other countries.

I dont understand what makes people believe this is a magical wonderland where the virus cannot spread when there is no objective evidence one way or the other.

And there is unlikely to be any until adequate testing is carried out.

I am reading the realities into this because i do not want this situation re-ocurring ad infinitum  if there is the second wave then a third wave, etc.

South Korea issue now re-emerging.

They had been doing a fantastic job.

Thais Flying blind.

They have a good opportunity here in the next few months to figure out the current status for the spread of the virus, and may well regret it if they dont do so.

 

 

[tlock]

5 minutes ago, jojothai said:

You can have your own opinion.

The WHO gave advice that some people choose to ignore.

In my opinion the autocracy here do not want to do the testing. They are afraid to know the actual status, it could reflect very badly on how they are portraying things.

Its not a minor issue in other countries.

I dont understand what makes people believe this is a magical wonderland where the virus cannot spread when there is no objective evidence one way or the other.

And there is unlikely to be any until adequate testing is carried out.

I am reading the realities into this because i do not want this situation re-ocurring ad infinitum  if there is the second wave then a third wave, etc.

South Korea issue now re-emerging.

They had been doing a fantastic job.

Thais Flying blind.

They have a good opportunity here in the next few months to figure out the current status for the spread of the virus, and may well regret it if they dont do so.

 

 

The entire world is disregarding the WHO advice on travel bans:

https://www.who.int/news-room/articles-detail/updated-who-recommendations-for-international-traffic-in-relation-to-covid-19-outbreak

[ukrules]

56 minutes ago, tlock said:

The entire world is disregarding the WHO advice on travel bans:

https://www.who.int/news-room/articles-detail/updated-who-recommendations-for-international-traffic-in-relation-to-covid-19-outbreak

People know when the WHO are talking nonsense and sometimes act accordingly.

 

Flights are still landing in London every day and they're not checking anyone, not yet anyway.

 

[jimn]

6 hours ago, jojothai said:

You can have your own opinion.

The WHO gave advice that some people choose to ignore.

In my opinion the autocracy here do not want to do the testing. They are afraid to know the actual status, it could reflect very badly on how they are portraying things.

Its not a minor issue in other countries.

I dont understand what makes people believe this is a magical wonderland where the virus cannot spread when there is no objective evidence one way or the other.

And there is unlikely to be any until adequate testing is carried out.

I am reading the realities into this because i do not want this situation re-ocurring ad infinitum  if there is the second wave then a third wave, etc.

South Korea issue now re-emerging.

They had been doing a fantastic job.

Thais Flying blind.

They have a good opportunity here in the next few months to figure out the current status for the spread of the virus, and may well regret it if they dont do so.

 

 

Heat and humidity = no major virus ourbreak. Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam. All tropical countries. Go too far north to Russia and China or too far South to Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and Phillipines, its a different climate.

[gargamon]

7 minutes ago, jimn said:

Heat and humidity = no major virus ourbreak. Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam. All tropical countries. Go too far north to Russia and China or too far South to Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and Phillipines, its a different climate.

Really? Have you ever been to Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia or the Phillipines? All are tropical countries with high temperatures and high humidity  just like Thailand. Maybe you should look at a map or a globe occasionally. I believe your argument has just been refuted.