Thailand reports 1,547 new COVID-19 cases, 2 more deaths

[webfact]

REUTERS FILE PHOTO for reference only

 

Thailand reported 1,547 new COVID-19 infections on Saturday and two additional deaths

 

Of the new cases, 1,316 were local transmissions, while 228 were imported from people entering quarantine and 3 foreign infected persons (screening at the checkpoint and entering the hospital/quarantine).

 

To date, most new cases have been reported in Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Chonburi, Samut Prakan, Narathiwat and Prachuap Khiri Khan

 

11,916 people remain in hospital receiving treatment, 28,570 have recovered.

 

Saturday’s cases bring the total number of COVID-19 infections in Thailand to 40,585 with 99 deaths.

 

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[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Thailand set new records on Saturday as its total of COVID cases passed the 40,000 mark and 11,916 COVID positive patients were being housed in hospital and alternate hospital facilities, along with two added deaths. Though today's reported 1,547 new cases was a slight decline from the 1,582 reported yesterday.

 

A government spokesman said one of the two new fatalities was the first from the Thong Lo entertainment venue cluster of COVID cases that began the latest outbreak -- a 38-year-old male programmer with preexisting conditions who died yesterday in Tak province.

 

The other reported new fatality was a 51-year-old male also with preexisting conditions who died in Pathum Thani province. No other details were provided.

 

Unlike the prior days, Saturday's report by the MoPH did not appear to include any details of the number of COVID cases deemed in serious condition or the subset on ventilators.

 

 

 

https://www.facebook.com/KhaosodEnglish/posts/4237642022921364

 

 

 

For the latest day, Thailand also topped 600,000 cumulative COVID vaccination doses having been administered, but that remains under 1% of the country's population, one of the lowest vaccination rates in Asia. The numbers in yellow below reflect the latest daily additional numbers of vaccine doses administered.

 

 

https://www.facebook.com/nbtworld/posts/10157955635322050

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

With the latest cases, Thailand moved up one notch to being ranked 110th among all countries in terms of its cumulative number of COVID cases since the beginning of the pandemic.

 

The MoPH chart below ranks countries based on their cumulative numbers of COVID cases:

 

 

The following MoPH chart compares Thailand with its regional Asian neighboring country peers, again ranked by total numbers of COVID cases:

 

 

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

"The 3rd wave which started at entertainment venues in Bangkok and surrounding provinces had led to 11,722 cases and 5 deaths between April 1 and 17.

 

The 3rd wave had spread to all 77 provinces for the first time since the pandemic began while the number of patients being admitted at hospitals because of covid had reached a “new high” at 11,916 people, according to Dr Taweesin, CCSA’s spokesman.

 

Of the 1,544 local cases that were found in the past 24 hours, 279 were found in Bangkok, followed by Chiang Mai (140) Chonburi (99) and Prachuap Khiri Khan (58)."

 

https://www.facebook.com/ThaiEnquirer/posts/301698257984381

 

Of the 11,916 currently hospitalized COVID positive patients, the government said 11,335 were in hospitals and 581 were in alternate facilities like temporary field hospitals.

 

Under Thailand's policy, anyone who tests positive for COVID must remain in some type of hospital or alternate hospital facility until they are no longer contagious.

 

[Danderman123]

It may be the case that testing won’t produce any more than 1500 or so confirmed cases, due to limits on testing.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

 

 

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

In an effort to source additional COVID vaccine doses, a Thai government spokesman said the country has begun talks about acquiring new vaccines from makers in the United States and Russia.

 

Specifically, Bloomberg News reported that those discussions include seeking doses of the Pfizer vaccine, which has not been available or used in Thailand thus far in the pandemic.

 

The Thai government said earlier this week that the main vaccine in its arsenal will continue to be plans to locally produce a version of the AstraZeneca vaccine, which is due to begin distribution nationwide in June.

 

 

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-04-16/thailand-to-tighten-curbs-as-virus-flareup-imperils-tourism-plan

 

 

 

Edited April 17, 2021 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Meanwhile, a series of new restrictions nationwide are set to take effect tonight (Saturday) at midnight as the Thai government attempts to bring its latest COVID outbreak under control. The measures include the closure of all schools and entertainment venues for at least the next two weeks, along with other localized restrictions in 18-so-called "red zone" provinces with high COVID numbers including Bangkok.

 

 

https://www.facebook.com/thailandprd/posts/4179282702095112

 

Edited April 17, 2021 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[2 is 1]

Over the past 24 hours, 90 patients have recovered and been discharged.

This was in news also! So 90 get home and 1547 put in! Hmm.. start to buid "few" more field hospital and fast!!!

Edited April 17, 2021 by 2 is 1

[MikeyIdea]

21 minutes ago, 2 is 1 said:

Over the past 24 hours, 90 patients have recovered and been discharged.

This was in news also! So 90 get home and 1457 put in! Hmm.. start to buid "few" more field hospital and fast!!!

 

I think they are

 

Their biggest problem is that lots of private hospitals refuse covid-19 patients. Some things are not entirely logical in Thailand but one would hope they do it because they don't have the medical capacity to treat serious cases. Another option could very well be that serious cases can be hugely expensive to treat. What would they do if the patient / relatives cannot pay?

 

In China (before the government announced that they would cover covid-19 treatment), relatives borrowed all they could and if that wasn't enough, hospitals stopped treatment. I remember reading a very sad story in SCMP (South China Morning Post) where the husband and relatives borrowed tens of thousands of dollars? (more than 20,000 anyway) to save his pregnant wife. They couldn't borrow more and the husband and hospital decided to stop treatment, the pregnant wife died. Only days later, the government announced they'd cover it. No wife, no baby and debt to pay. Got tears in my eyes when I read that.

 

Perhaps the Thai "solution" is the least bad when there are only bad options?

 

Edited April 17, 2021 by MikeyIdea

[ThailandRyan]

46 minutes ago, Danderman123 said:

It may be the case that testing won’t produce any more than 1500 or so confirmed cases, due to limits on testing.

It would be nice to know the exact number of tests conducted each day, and then ask yourself why are they not testing more folks.

[ThailandRyan]

40 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

In an effort to source additional COVID vaccine doses, a Thai government spokesman said the country has begun talks about acquiring new vaccines from makers in the United States and Russia.

 

Specifically, Bloomberg News reported that those discussions include seeking doses of the Pfizer vaccine, which has not been available or used in Thailand thus far in the pandemic.

 

The Thai government said earlier this week that the main vaccine in its arsenal will continue to be plans to locally produce a version of the AstraZeneca vaccine, which is due to begin distribution nationwide in June.

 

 

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-04-16/thailand-to-tighten-curbs-as-virus-flareup-imperils-tourism-plan

 

 

 

As I said before, Why has it taken a sudden surge and new wave to get a fire burning under this Governments butt to start the procurement of vaccines and get a true vaccine program rolled out.  Did they truly they were on top of this and the country was safe.  If so, then these folks really are deluded and had they actually been testing all along and not resting after patting themselves on the back with the accolades they received from the WHO then this could have been headed of at the pass.  

[Rhacsyn]

4 minutes ago, ThailandRyan said:

It would be nice to know the exact number of tests conducted each day, and then ask yourself why are they not testing more folks.

 

Until we know the number of tests we cannot ask the question why not more!

[ikke1959]

if 1 infected person lives together with his or her wife or husband, than there would be 2 infected and if they had made contact with 1 other person each... I think there would be a lot more cases. But 4 days on a row about 1550 is very curious

Edited April 17, 2021 by ikke1959
correction

[ourmanflint]

So 1500 is the new magic number. No way on Earth has it remained the same for 3 days. 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Jana district residents to file complaint against SBPAC over boxing event

 

Residents of Jana district, in Thailand’s southern province of Songkhla, are considering taking legal action against the Southern Border Provinces Administration Centre (SBPAC) for allegedly defying an order of the provincial communicable disease committee by holding a Muay Thai boxing match on April 8th.

 

A representative of the residents, Mr. Surasak Manee, said today (Saturday) that he has already consulted a lawyer about filing a complaint with Jana district police, after it was discovered that some boxers, boxing promoters and several fans, who came from high-risk provinces, were not quarantined as required.

...

Dr. Supat Hasuwankit, director of Jana district hospital, advised the organizing committee to postpone the event the day before, after an infection had been found in the district, but his warning was ignored by the SBPC, claiming that the boxing event would be devoid of spectators and that several preventive measures were in place at the boxing stadium.

 

(more)

 

https://www.thaipbsworld.com/jana-district-residents-to-file-complaint-against-sbpac-over-boxing-event/

 

[RichardColeman]

 

1 hour ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

Thailand set new records on Saturday as its total of COVID cases passed the 40,000 mark

Don't believe Thailand's numbers full stop.

 

False positives alone - at say 0.5% - would account for 40,000 people on their own, without any real covid positive tests.

[MikeyIdea]

1 hour ago, Danderman123 said:

It may be the case that testing won’t produce any more than 1500 or so confirmed cases, due to limits on testing.

 

I think they are testing a lot but it's not targeted testing, not mass testing. They have IMO a solid and well working contact tracing system, that's why they managed to keep it at bay for 13 months longer than all western countries except Australia and New Zealand. 

 

1500 cases a day, each meet between 5 and 10 high risk (first round), all tested, the same contact tracing procedure kicks in again and again until no high risk identified. They don't test those considered low risk but they are told to quarantine. The system is not perfect but IMO, it's a h*ck of a lot better than what the west could manage.

 

Back to Sweden again as I was there during the first wave. No information what to do. Some "high risk" called health authorities and asked. Eeeeh, try to stay away from people if you can, masks *not* recommended, they had decided to keep Sweden open so go to work. People who had identified themselves as high risk continued to commute, work in offices, in schools and shops without mask even. Were told to even.

 

Numbers? No idea but enough to say a lot IMO        

Edited April 17, 2021 by MikeyIdea

[cocoonclub]

11 minutes ago, RichardColeman said:

 

Don't believe Thailand's numbers full stop.

 

False positives alone - at say 0.5% - would account for 40,000 people on their own, without any real covid positive tests.

Wherever those numbers come from and whatever they’re supposed to mean...

[Rhacsyn]

20 minutes ago, ourmanflint said:

So 1500 is the new magic number. No way on Earth has it remained the same for 3 days. 

In the UK the number of positive cases has floated around 3,000 for a number of days. In the UAE (where I lived for 30 years) the number has floated around 2000 for 3 weeks! I believe that it relates to testing in the same areas all the time. If around 10% return positive results every day and you are testing the same type of group every day (in a red zone for example) then the numbers may not change so much. In Thailand each province submits a number for every day. I can only speak for Phuket and the daily number is as reported. Nevertheless, it would not be impossible, but not so straight forward to coordinate number submissions from each province.

 

On another issue, around 1,500 Farangs were asked to come forward for testing in Phuket after a number of high profile parties. With the threat of hospitalisation or field hospital looming if found positive they have chosen to "self isolate". I did not attend the parties in question but paid for a test anyway which came back negative.

[cocoonclub]

32 minutes ago, ourmanflint said:

So 1500 is the new magic number. No way on Earth has it remained the same for 3 days. 

It hasn’t remained the same for 3 days. And why there would be “No way on Earth” you also fail to show. 

[4MyEgo]

1 hour ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

A government spokesman said one of the two new fatalities was the first from the Thong Lo entertainment venue cluster of COVID cases that began the latest outbreak -- a 38-year-old male programmer with preexisting conditions who died yesterday in Tak province.

 

The other reported new fatality was a 51-year-old male also with preexisting conditions who died in Pathum Thani province. No other details were provided.

 

No doubt that is going to worry a lot of people, note to self, don't worry.

[cocoonclub]

35 minutes ago, ikke1959 said:

if 1 infected person lives together with his or her wife or husband, than there would be 2 infected and if they had made contact with 1 other person each... I think there would be a lot more cases. But 4 days on a row about 1550 is very curious

And where do all these assumptions (plus those that are implied) come from? My infected work colleague, for example, doesn’t live together with a wife or husband. 

[internationalism]

for true statistics we have to wait till Tuesday, the earliest, when they start again proper testing.

From the last Saturday 10th of april, laboratories are closed, hospitals don't want to run tests.

 

[cocoonclub]

2 minutes ago, internationalism said:

From the last Saturday 10th of april, laboratories are closed, hospitals don't want to run tests.

That’s absolute nonsense. 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Giving a relatively rare look at the numbers of foreigners being caught up in Thailand's COVID pandemic, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration today released its own COVID report through 8 p.m. on Friday, saying it had 312 new COVID cases, including 138 "aliens" among them (shown in the red highlight area in the chart below).

 

The BMA information did not provide any details as to the nationalities of the new non-Thai cases (76 found in hospitals and 62 via outreach), which represented 44% of the newly reported cases. In addition to expats, however, Bangkok is also home to large numbers of citizens from Laos, Cambodia, etc., all considered "aliens".

 

Thus far in the pandemic, the Thai national government has issued daily reports on COVID cases and statistics, including by province, but has provided little to no information on the extent of foreigner or expat cases among those.

 

In a separate Thai language only chart, the BMA said its contact tracing of the new cases showed that 108 came generally from contact with other infected persons, 60 came from visits to entertainment venues, and 7 more were linked to the ongoing Thong Lo entertainment venues cluster.

 

Note: the 312 new cases number reported by the BMA matches the same number reported for the province by the Ministry of Public Health in its mid-day Friday national report.

 

 

https://www.facebook.com/prbangkok/photos/a.130858870347076/3408298442603086/

 

[Enzian]

I thought almost a year ago I was reading reports that the government had stipulated that all hospitals public and private must accept patients, and at the expense of the government. 

Or was/is it at the expense of the government if the patient(s) cannot pay?

Or what IS going on at this time?

Can a hospital really turn someone away from its doors?

Can foreigners be discriminated against in any manner, in regard to treatment for this disease?

Can a patient be restrained from just walking out?

I'll think of more.

[beano2274]

Why the breakdown of Thais and Aliens, surely they are all in Thailand, all the BMA is doing is making people resent the foreigners who live and work in Thailand even more.

 

 

[Rhacsyn]

42 minutes ago, RichardColeman said:

 

Don't believe Thailand's numbers full stop.

 

False positives alone - at say 0.5% - would account for 40,000 people on their own, without any real covid positive tests.

Hi

 

As you may have an insight into these numbers for Thailand, if you have the time and wish to reply could you provide some reasoning and definitive numbers behind your comment.

 

In addition, I would be interested if you could list, let's say 5 countries whose numbers you trust.

 

If not included in above, are we to believe the numbers form our neighbours in Vietnam and Cambodia for example?

 

Sorry to be a pest but I am simply interested in different peoples understanding of this part of it all especially after your statement. 

[BookShe]

Since cases are clearly coming down since yesterday, we should start talking about reopening. I heard rumors about TAT is working on some big announcement later today. Or tomorrow Or next month. Anyway. The point is that they are working on it. I feel excited already. 

Edited April 17, 2021 by BookShe