IUDC increases COVID-19 testing capacity

[snoop1130]

 

BANGKOK (NNT) - The Institute for Urban Disease Control and Prevention has increased its walk-in testing capacity to 1,200 persons a day, in addition to high-risk persons with appointments. The institute will continue to offer COVID-19 tests until the situation improves.

 

Today many people went to the Institute for Urban Disease Control and Prevention (IUDC) in Bang Khen district of Bangkok to receive an initial screening and COVID-19 tests, as cases of COVID-19 continue to rise.

 

The institute is now offering COVID-19 screening and tests to two groups of people, the first being persons given an appointment because they are considered to be at high risk of infection, as well as walk-in cases.

 

Tickets for the daily 1,200 slots are distributed in the morning, with the first 700 tickets for screening and tests between 8:30 a.m. and midday, and the remaining 500 tickets for screening and tests from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Persons who need testing will be swabbed using a royally bestowed mobile biosafety unit.

 

The IUDC deputy director Rujira Tragoolpua, said today the institute had decided to install the royally bestowed mobile swab units and labs to increase testing capacity at the IUDC, in addition to providing on-site services at other places, as transmission is now widespread in Bangkok.

 

She said the institute currently has no plans to stop the testing service, depending on how the situation evolves.

 

Another IUDC deputy director Suksant Jittimanee has urged people coming to get tested to strictly follow the preventive measures against the spread of COVID-19, as the test venue could be crowded.

 

He said people receiving negative results must continue to self isolate, monitor themselves for symptoms, and get tested again as recommended, as an initial negative test could be made during the incubation period of the virus.

 

-- © Copyright NNT 2021-04-14

 

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[YetAnother]

49 minutes ago, snoop1130 said:

Tickets for the daily 1,200 slots are distributed in the morning,

doubtless only with a thai id card (not any pink ones)

[Cake Monster]

14 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Tickets for the daily 1,200 slots are distributed in the morning, with the first 700 tickets for screening and tests between 8:30 a.m. and midday, and the remaining 500 tickets for screening and tests from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Persons who need testing will be swabbed using a royally bestowed mobile biosafety unit.

First you have to enter a queing system, where you may get a lucky ticket for a test, or may not. Then if you are lucky, "swabbed " by a Mobil Biosafety Unit !!!!!!!.

If you are unlucky in the Lottery Draw for a test, you then have to que again the next day, having infected many while waiting overnight.

Amazing Thailand

[rickudon]

1,200 extra tests a day is pitiful. 138 million tests have been done in the UK in the past year, and now around 800,000 tests a day.

[paulbrow]

An interesting point not covered is exactly where these mobile units are located. Bang Khen is fairly large area.

[superal]

Does anyone have faith in the Thai testing and reporting system ?  Testing is miniscule against the total population . What would be informative would be the amount of daily tests taken , number of positive results and the provinces where testing took place .  The whole scenario is similar to a company conducting a pre announced  audit  on themselves  and then patting themselves on the back . The main government  hospitals are ill equipped and the wards crowded with not only patients but their families too . As for the field hospitals , they should be called overflow sites . Field hospitals , the UK Nightingale hospitals are a good example of how they should be . Feel sorry for the Thai nurses and doctors who will be working in difficult circumstances .