Top Thai doctor repeats warnings about opening country to foreign tourists

[webfact]

Top Thai doctor repeats warnings about opening country to foreign tourists

 

Image: Channel 7

 

A top Thai medical doctor and researcher has cautioned about opening the country to foreign tourism. 

 

Dr Thira Woratahanarat, who has already sounded the alarm in stories in the Thai media, told Channel 7 That nasal swab tests for coronavirus had the chance of 13% errors. 

 

In addition quarantining for 14 days was not the total answer as people infected with the virus have different incubation periods. 

 

This seemed to go against internationally recognised standards that say after 10 days and certainly by 14 days it can be sure someone doesn't have the virus. 

 

But the researcher and epidemiologist at Bangkok's prestigious Chulalongkorn University didn't stop there. 

 

He said that allowing tourists out from their quarantine hotel on a 1 km radius was very risky. They could infect locals and their families and in a potential outbreak it could be hard to pinpoint the source of infection. 

 

While polls show that many Thais, perhaps a majority, don't want tourists back just yet, Dr Thira has been criticized online for being out of step with the many Thai people who are desperate for the return of income from tourism.

 

Interestingly in 2014 the doctor was given the prestigious "Asia Responsible Entrepreneur Award", notes Thaivisa from online sources.

 

Source: Channel 7

 

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2020-10-12

 

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[petermik]

oooh no...you cannot say that...what will TAT think about the Chinese bursting to come back in ????

[Kaopad999]

He's absolutely right.  Thailand is doing just fine right now with very few restrictions . 
Open the floodgates and face a national disaster. 

[Matzzon]

35 minutes ago, webfact said:

Dr Thira Woratahanarat

Calm down Doc! Don´t worry! Not even one Chinese has applied for a visa, so everyone is safe.

[Phuketshrew]

The biggest threat right now is through Thailand's porous land borders with neighbouring countries not from properly tested and quarantined foreign tourists.

[Kadilo]

23 minutes ago, Kaopad999 said:

  Thailand is doing just fine right now with very few restrictions 

Glad you are doing Ok Jack. 
 

Thailand is doing far from fine economically as you will notice if you remove your head out of the sand. 

[Kaopad999]

16 minutes ago, Kadilo said:

Glad you are doing Ok Jack. 
 

Thailand is doing far from fine economically as you will notice if you remove your head out of the sand. 

Yes Thailand is doing very well. 
Now let's compare to  a country with a similar size population shall we? 



 

[JusticeGB]

He is right on one thing if you quarantine a person for 14 days the quarantine can't include them wandering around the streets. The first covid19 test is taken about 3 days prior to travel so maybe a 10 day quarantine period is all that's required. It's ridiculous that a covid19 free person from the UK is not allowed in as a tourist because the UK has high covid19 rates if that person has proven negative of covid19. Nobody is thinking things through. People who are looking after families here may only have Buddhist type weddings so they aren't officially married do aren't allowed back unless they have a child and are registered as the father of that child. People who look after families help the real Thai people and not the rich Thai people. 

[Pattaya Spotter]

He doesn't have much to worry about, few, if any, tourists are coming under the current rules and conditions.

[Kadilo]

7 minutes ago, Kaopad999 said:

Yes Thailand is doing very well. 
Now let's compare to  a country with a similar size population shall we? 



 

Which part of “economically” didnt you understand. ?

 

 

[Kaopad999]

4 minutes ago, Kadilo said:

Which part of “economically” didnt you understand. ?

 

 

did i ever mention the word "economically" in the first place? 

Nope!

[PatOngo]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

A top Thai medical doctor and researcher has cautioned about opening the country to foreign tourism. 

Damn foreigners, I have the feeling they would rather starve than embrace logic! Let them eat cake!

[PatOngo]

1 hour ago, Phuketshrew said:

The biggest threat right now is through Thailand's porous land borders with neighbouring countries not from properly tested and quarantined foreign tourists.

Hey! Foreigners have big noses and they're dirty! The Health minister has poisoned the minds of most Thai's!

[Kaopad999]

12 minutes ago, PatOngo said:

Hey! Foreigners have big noses and they're dirty! The Health minister has poisoned the minds of most Thai's!

Agree, his comments were absolutely disgusting. 

[OKF]

it is very simple: If you not test then there is no cases. Thailand is the best example for this. The so called rising infection rates e.g. in Germany which is actually just positive tests bcs that PCR test cannot measure an infection are positive within the false positive spectrum of that test. Just test more and more panic can be created. 

[Rancid]

Truth of the matter is that few countries are going to open in the short term. See Australia is mulling travel bubbles later in the year for Japan, Korea and Malaysia. If all goes well then it will expand, and would assume Thailand, if reciprocal, would be included perhaps next year.

[Guderian]

The medics and politicians also have to remember that the quarantine facilities aren't prisons and can also lead to fresh outbreaks. The most publicised case is Melbourne, but now the Chinese city of Qingdao has just gone into lockdown and all nine million residents will be tested due to an outbreak at a hospital where imported coronavirus cases were being treated. If even the mighty, authoritarian Chinese state can't guarantee that its quarantine facilities are safe and secure, what hope does Thailand have?

[timendres]

1 hour ago, Kaopad999 said:

Yes Thailand is doing very well. 
Now let's compare to  a country with a similar size population shall we? 



 

 

Quote

 

2.2 Situation of Patients with Suspected Symptoms of COVID-19 in Thailand. On 30

     September 2020 at 12.00, Thailand announced that 1,057 additional people met the criteria for PUI, raising the total to 451,067 PUI, as shown in Table 2.

 

https://ddc.moph.go.th/viralpneumonia/eng/file/situation/situation-no269-300963.pdf

 

[Christie Paul]

Many thousand of medical doctors and scientists, including Noble prize winners, have signed the Great Barrington Declaration in which the overiding concern is that the lockdowns will cost more lives than the actual virus.  

 

https://gbdeclaration.org

 

Even the WHO is now distancing itself from the lockdowns as the numbers are coming in that lockdowns are destroying the lives of many of the worlds poor. The poverty and resulting shortening of lives will probably mean that governement policies have caused the deaths of vastly more people than the virus.

 

 

 

 

[mark131v]

Blimey, is it time for the regular dose of xenophobia and deflection for the serf's, the let's divert attention from the <deleted> stuff that's happened recently and whip up a bit of nationalism, <deleted>in predictable...

[from the home of CC]

3 hours ago, Kaopad999 said:

Yes Thailand is doing very well. 
Now let's compare to  a country with a similar size population shall we? 



 

facts just confuse some folks - Thailand is hurting economically like every economy in the world, doesn't mean they have to emulate the stupidity required to kills thousands..

BTW - I believe the death count there and some other countries are vastly underestimated (which is criminal in itself)

[Kaopad999]

29 minutes ago, from the home of CC said:

facts just confuse some folks - Thailand is hurting economically like every economy in the world, doesn't mean they have to emulate the stupidity required to kills thousands..

BTW - I believe the death count there and some other countries are vastly underestimated (which is criminal in itself)

Agree!

If Thailand suddenly decided to open their borders right now, it would only cause a  surge in Covid numbers that would result in the whole country going back in to a full lock down with strict curfews.  That wouldn't  just have an impact on the tourism industry, but also most businesses that cater for locals. Thailand just simply can't afford to take such a risk. 

[Chongalulu]

24 minutes ago, Kaopad999 said:

Agree!

If Thailand suddenly decided to open their borders right now, it would only cause a  surge in Covid numbers that would result in the whole country going back in to a full lock down with strict curfews.  That wouldn't  just have an impact on the tourism industry, but also most businesses that cater for locals. Thailand just simply can't afford to take such a risk. 

Ok,so how long can Thailand 'afford' to have an industry accounting for 20% of its GDP shut down and a million in that industry unemployed? Do you understand the knock on effects on other sectors of the economy too ? 
What do you understand about balance in this equation?. If you are solely concerned about deaths tell me of the proportionate response the country is taking to address 25,000 road deaths per year ? What part of the economy is being shut down to mitigate that ? - because that could also be done too. 

[finnsk]

No problems.

 

There will not come any tourists, the authorities have closed for all tourist by the STV rules etc.

 

Sad for the people working in the tourism industry

[hotchilli]

5 hours ago, webfact said:

Top Thai doctor repeats warnings about opening country to foreign tourists

Apparently the STV club is all a myth, the real threat comes from next door in Myanmar.

[Kaopad999]

14 minutes ago, nchuckle said:

Ok,so how long can Thailand 'afford' to have an industry accounting for 20% of its GDP shut down and a million in that industry unemployed? Do you understand the knock on effects on other sectors of the economy too ? 
What do you understand about balance in this equation?. If you are solely concerned about deaths tell me of the proportionate response the country is taking to address 25,000 road deaths per year ? What part of the economy is being shut down to mitigate that ? - because that could also be done too. 

Currently with so many travel restrictions to many countries, i see this as a great time & opportunity to boost domestic tourism. 

[ravip]

5 hours ago, Kaopad999 said:

He's absolutely right.  Thailand is doing just fine right now with very few restrictions . 
Open the floodgates and face a national disaster. 

100% correct.

[Scott Tracy]

You mean the Doctor is doing very well, thank you, and <deleted> the 20% or so of the population that depends on tourism for a living, and the rest of the country that depends on those people.

 

I bet the good Doc has his own farm in the sticks somewhere. Doctoring when not planting or harvesting.... Damn, I shouldn't be so cynical. Sack him from his Doctoring job and make him earn his crust, as required under the sufficiency economy model.

[Magenta408]

I'd like to see his science behind his bold statements. Where is the meat? I think the good doctor likes to blow it out in all cardinal directions and gauge reaction. I'm not sold by this guy.

[agoodpunt]

Just keep testing at the airport and well publicise every suspected case to remind thais it everywhere but here while the country go down the tubes