The Covid-19 Crisis in Thailand: Charting a Safe and Sustainable Path to Recovery

[webfact]

 

Thailand’s crisis response during the early phases of the global Covid-19 pandemic had been impressive. As at August 8, 2020, the total number of cases was 3,345, with only 27 cases added in the final week of July 2020. The kingdom’s success in the relatively swift reopening [from lockdown] and control of infection and deaths spurred spirited discussions on its achievements. How did Thailand succeed? What did the country do and avoid in order to achieve such accomplishments?

 

Thailand saw its first case of Covid-19 infection on January 13, 2020. The patient, a female tourist who flew in from Wuhan, China, marked the first non-China Covid-19 case worldwide. In about a fortnight, the first local transmission was reported. The early wave of infection reached its peak when the number of confirmed cases hit 789 cases in the week of March 23, 2020. Most cases were concentrated in Bangkok. On advice from Thailand’s special taskforce for the pandemic response, Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA), the government declared that the country would enter a state of emergency the next day. Apart from flights that were bringing overseas Thai citizens home, all international inbound flights were halted in April 2020.

 

Up until early August 2020, the country had seen six phases of reopening, allowing businesses to bring in foreign visitors, including migrant workers and selective medical tourists. However, most Thais remained cautious and concerned that this gradual opening up might invite a second wave of infection.

 

Full story: https://news.smu.edu.sg/news/2021/04/19/covid-19-crisis-thailand-charting-safe-and-sustainable-path-recovery

 

-- © Copyright SMU News 2021-04-17

 

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[lkv]

28 minutes ago, webfact said:

How did Thailand succeed? What did the country do and avoid in order to achieve such accomplishments?

 

No testing.

Edited April 16, 2021 by lkv

[gunderhill]

There are right  now  lots  of cases  going unreported I did  post a list  of condos which has since grown in BKK where covid  has been found, announced by the Juristic  offices  in the building often with written notices in the  lobbies  etc but TV I  guess  deemed  this source  dubious. The estate  agents  however list this  on their facebook  page if anyone is interested, currently standing at 111 different condo  buildings mostly  around  the area where  it broke  out but spreading  rapidly, their group can be seen here , each  building has at least ONE covid person been found there.  They post this to help them avoid  catching covid.

https://www.facebook.com/propcons

Edited April 16, 2021 by gunderhill

[Scott]

A post commenting on moderation has been reported and removed.

 

[rabas]

2 hours ago, gunderhill said:

There are right  now  lots  of cases  going unreported I did  post a list  of condos which has since grown in BKK where covid  has been found, announced by the Juristic  offices  in the building often with written notices in the  lobbies  etc but TV I  guess  deemed  this source  dubious. The estate  agents  however list this  on their facebook  page if anyone is interested, currently standing at 111 different condo  buildings mostly  around  the area where  it broke  out but spreading  rapidly, their group can be seen here , each  building has at least ONE covid person been found there.  They post this to help them avoid  catching covid.

https://www.facebook.com/propcons

I have no doubt 111 or more condos have cases. People must live somewhere. But why do you say these cases are unreported?  Every case from a condo must have tested positive at a hospital, clinic, etc.,  which must be reported.

 

Edited April 17, 2021 by rabas

[Natai Beach]

2 hours ago, lkv said:

 

No testing.

So you are saying the 2 million+ who were killed by covid in the Americas and Europe were killed from the testing procedure?

[gunderhill]

1 hour ago, rabas said:

I have no doubt 111 or more condos have cases. People must live somewhere. But why do you say these cases are unreported?  Every case from a condo must have tested positive at a hospital, clinic, etc.,  which must be reported.

 

I mean Tv isn't reporting it, I posted it a few  days  ago but they deemed  it not proof  enough from my source I  guess. I think it's  important people know where covid  exists to decide themselves if they want to avoid  these  places or  not.

[herfiehandbag]

1 hour ago, Natai Beach said:

So you are saying the 2 million+ who were killed by covid in the Americas and Europe were killed from the testing procedure?

Perhaps the point he is making is that as there has been very little testing here ( by any measure), accurate figures are not available. 

 

Couple this with the suspicion that other pre-existing conditions are accepted as the cause of death particularly amongst the elderly, when in countries which have more testing, and perhaps more rigourous procedures for medical documentation and assessing what I believe are called "comorbidities", leaving Covid 19 out of the loop. The data which Thailand is reporting may be less than accurate.

 

But then it occurs that maybe you appreciate that, but are trying to pick a fight?

[MyFriend You]

2 hours ago, Natai Beach said:

So you are saying the 2 million+ who were killed by covid in the Americas and Europe were killed from the testing procedure?

No testing, nothing to report??

[sapson]

5 hours ago, lkv said:

5 hours ago, webfact said:

How did Thailand succeed? What did the country do and avoid in order to achieve such accomplishments?

 

No testing.

Edited 4 hours ago by l

 

Exactly!!

 

Even I with my under a rock social distancing existence.........over the last year know of two Thai people who had many of the symptoms of covid who went to local hospitals, but because they were not on a stretcher and had no proven contact with a covid positive individual were refused tests and advised to go home and take paracetamol..........or if really concerned go to a private hospital and pay for a test.

 

Why werent world leaders and the WHO consulting Thailand on their amazing covid management success!

[Natai Beach]

59 minutes ago, herfiehandbag said:

Perhaps the point he is making is that as there has been very little testing here ( by any measure), accurate figures are not available. 

 

Couple this with the suspicion that other pre-existing conditions are accepted as the cause of death particularly amongst the elderly, when in countries which have more testing, and perhaps more rigourous procedures for medical documentation and assessing what I believe are called "comorbidities", leaving Covid 19 out of the loop. The data which Thailand is reporting may be less than accurate.

 

But then it occurs that maybe you appreciate that, but are trying to pick a fight?

 The wonderful western countries   only started mass testing AFTER the bodies were piling up and hundreds of thousands were already infected. 
They needed to have a lot of tests because they had so many cases. Every positive case required everyone who had contact with them to also be tested. 

Thailand on the other hand started testing early and were the very first country to test and find a case outside of China in January 2020. It is accepted that it was already in Europe by December2019 but it went unchecked for months, and hundreds of thousands died as a result.
 

The tests were showing mostly negative in Thailand so the result was no need for mass tracing and tests required in other countries who botched it.
 

I think maybe you know that but you just wanted to Thaibash and deflect. 
 

 

Edited April 17, 2021 by Natai Beach

[rabas]

48 minutes ago, gunderhill said:

I mean Tv isn't reporting it, I posted it a few  days  ago but they deemed  it not proof  enough from my source I  guess. I think it's  important people know where covid  exists to decide themselves if they want to avoid  these  places or  not.

OK, agree 100%.  Thailand desperately needs a public real-time mapping system to show where infections are happening.  They started one in the beginning but abandoned it. A private company developed a website that scraped news and social media (like you) and placed popup pins on a google map, but discontinued it. 

 

The MOPH has a data base with every case but only provides province, testing location, date and age.

 

The Thai Chana and Maw Chana system must have gobs of useful information. Do they provide this information to users or just collect it? 

[gunderhill]

1 hour ago, rabas said:

OK, agree 100%.  Thailand desperately needs a public real-time mapping system to show where infections are happening.  They started one in the beginning but abandoned it. A private company developed a website that scraped news and social media (like you) and placed popup pins on a google map, but discontinued it. 

 

The MOPH has a data base with every case but only provides province, testing location, date and age.

 

The Thai Chana and Maw Chana system must have gobs of useful information. Do they provide this information to users or just collect it? 

Here's  the map of the condos

[bluedoc]

4 hours ago, herfiehandbag said:

6 hours ago, Natai Beach said:

 

Perhaps the point he is making is that as there has been very little testing here ( by any measure), accurate figures are not available. 

 

Couple this with the suspicion that other pre-existing conditions are accepted as the cause of death particularly amongst the elderly, when in countries which have more testing, and perhaps more rigourous procedures for medical documentation and assessing what I believe are called "comorbidities", leaving Covid 19 out of the loop. The data which Thailand is reporting may be less than accurate.

 

But then it occurs that maybe you appreciate that, but are trying to pick a fight

Very well said. 

[bluedoc]

9 hours ago, webfact said:

Thailand saw its first case of Covid-19 infection on January 13, 2020. The patient, a female tourist who flew in from Wuhan, China, marked the first non-China Covid-19 case worldwide. In about a fortnight, the first local transmission was reported

That does not make sense.  I wonder if the non Chinese person that came from China visited a certain building.

[herfiehandbag]

9 hours ago, rabas said:

The Thai Chana and Maw Chana system must have gobs of useful information. Do they provide this information to users or just collect it? 

I know little about Maw Chana, but assiduously use Thai Chana. That said, the data field they  generate must be so  so vast that unless they have large numbers of people to evaluate it, or a very sophisticated programme to harvest and link the essential information (both of which I doubt) then they are effectively nothing more than digital equivalents of the stores of photocopies of ID cards and passports held by so many government and other agencies in this country!