Thai Prime Minister reassures public after most severe COVID-19 wave

[Jonathan Fairfield]

Image: Reuters File photo

 

BANGKOK (Reuters) -Thailand broke another record for coronavirus cases on Friday as Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha promised sufficient beds and medicine and highlighted a plan to stimulate the economy and vaccinate 50 million Thais by year's end.

 

In a televised address, Prayuth announced no new curbs, in contrast to the strict shutdown a year ago when daily cases were a fraction of the current number, but he warned that authorities could quickly tighten measures if cases kept rising.

 

Thailand reported 2,070 new coronavirus cases on Friday, the highest daily number since the pandemic started.

More than 28,000 beds and sufficient medicine are available to battle the current wave, Prayuth said.

 

He promised additional vaccines, including 5 million to 10 million Pfizer Inc doses, 5 million to 10 million of Russia's Sputnik V, and 500,000 doses of Sinovac Biotech's vaccine donated by China.

 

This is on top of existing orders of 61 million doses of AstraZeneca's and 2.5 million doses of Sinovac vaccines.

 

The government has allocated 380 billion baht ($12.16 billion) budget to stimulate the economy, Prayuth said.

 

"The government and I will do everything possible to ensure that we all will persevere through this crisis."

 

Thai health authorities are adding more intensive care unit (ICU) beds in Bangkok as health officials warned that the Thai capital only had enough for one more week at the current daily rate of cases.

 

Thailand admits into care anyone who tests positive for COVID-19, even those without symptoms.

 

Thailand has managed to keep its case load far lower than many countries, but the new outbreak, which includes the highly-transmissible B.1.1.7 variant, has caused more than 20,000 domestic infections with 27 fatalities in just 23 days.

 

Schools and bars have been closed until next month and alcohol sales banned in restaurants in a bid to curb the epidemic.

The outbreak, which accounts for more than a third of Thailand's 50,183 cases so far, comes as the country takes tentative steps to reopen to tourists after a year of tightened border controls.

 

Thailand has recorded 121 deaths due to the coronavirus.

 

(Reporting by Panarat Thepgumpanat, Patpicha Tanakasempipat, Orathai Sriring and Panu Wongcha-umEditing by Ed Davies and Richard Chang)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2021-04-24

 

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[colinneil]

Just more of his usual pathetic  BS, truth is he is way over his head, has absolutely no idea.

All he cares about is himself, no one else, time for him to pack his bags and p off.

[Thaiwrath]

Thai Prime Minister reassures public.................................

 

That's when I stopped reading.

That old chestnut "there will not be a coup" sprung to mind !

[Excel]

3 minutes ago, colinneil said:

Just more of his usual pathetic  BS, truth is he is way over his head, has absolutely no idea.

All he cares about is himself, no one else, time for him to pack his bags and p off.

And a lot more with him too. This puppet is a muppet

[bluesofa]

1 minute ago, colinneil said:

Just more of his usual pathetic  BS, truth is he is way over his head, has absolutely no idea.

All he cares about is himself, no one else, time for him to pack his bags and p off.

Plus, the headline: 'Prime Minister reassures public' - as if anyone's going to be reassured by anything he says.

[bluesofa]

1 minute ago, Thaiwrath said:

Thai Prime Minister reassures public.................................

 

That's when I stopped reading.

That old chestnut "there will not be a coup" sprung to mind !

You beat me to it by a couple of minutes!

[Pattaya Spotter]

The vast majority of New cases are in over-crowded Bangkok and that's where any new control measures should be focused. Let's wait another 5-7 days post Songkran to see where the numbers settle. Most other countries are still in the tens of thousands of new daily cases (300k for India) and Japan is locking down Tokyo and Osaka so I wouldn't panic over a couple thousand infections.

[Thailand]

Now where did the latest outbreak get it's foothold?

And how was it distributed around the country?

[J Town]

<sarcasm>

 

I feel SO reassured now. I'll sleep much better.

 

</sarcasm>

[MasterBaker]

he looks like he wish he would resign when it was possible

[berrec]

[RichardColeman]

I think his face is showing more concern about the dwindling coffers than the dwindling population 

[Guderian]

Ludicrous, almost 50% more new cases reported today than the 2,000+ yesterday, but all this failure can find to talk about is vague promises of extra vaccines at some distant point in the future, when they aren't even planning to start a proper vaccination programme for another six to eight weeks. And it could all have been avoided if the feeble-minded politicians had made the unpopular decision and banned all unnecessary travel during Songkran.

 

And yes, it's now official, with 2,839 cases today, Thailand is far worse off than that basket case they've been laughing at for the last year, the UK, lol.

 

Hang your head in shame, Prayut, you've thrown it all away.

Edited April 24, 2021 by Guderian

[BusyB]

7 hours ago, Thaiwrath said:

Thai Prime Minister reassures public.................................

 

That's when I stopped reading.

That old chestnut "there will not be a coup" sprung to mind !

 

The honest headline would have read: ' .... tries to reassure the public...'

 

My Thai friends are scared <deleted>less ...

And we all know they don't have the resources to deal with a serious wave ...

[chang1]

7 hours ago, Jonathan Fairfield said:

Thai capital only had enough for one more week at the current daily rate of cases.

One more week before deaths start to really ramp up. Even here in the UK we are not sure about opening up due to all the new variants. So why risk it with an unprotected population?

 

7 hours ago, Jonathan Fairfield said:

"The government and I will do everything possible to ensure that we all will persevere through this crisis."

You have all been vaccinated so you will but what about the rest of the population? I guess they are expendable. Sure you have ordered the extra vaccines but how long before you even get all the vulnerable people their first shot? 

[BusyB]

31 minutes ago, Guderian said:

Ludicrous, almost 50% more new cases reported today than the 2,000+ yesterday, but all this failure can find to talk about is vague promises of extra vaccines at some distant point in the future, when they aren't even planning to start a proper vaccination programme for another six to eight weeks. And it could all have been avoided if the feeble-minded politicians had made the unpopular decision and banned all unnecessary travel during Songkran.

 

And yes, it's now official, with 2,839 cases today, Thailand is far worse off than that basket case they've been laughing at for the last year, the UK, lol.

 

Hang your head in shame, Prayut, you've thrown it all away.

 

Indeed, allowing Bangkokians to spread across the country at Songkran was nothing short of criminal negligence ...

Edited April 24, 2021 by BusyB

[Taswegian23]

He's not having a very good day... Betcha some of the minnies who recommended the Songkran debacle are now looking for a good out.

Edited April 24, 2021 by Taswegian23

[khunpa]

Was just about to panic over nearly 3.000 new cases.

Then I read this and now I feel safe and in competent hands.

 

Thank you Dear Leader!

Edited April 24, 2021 by khunpa

[chang1]

7 hours ago, Pattaya Spotter said:

I wouldn't panic over a couple thousand infections

It's the rate of increasing deaths that you should concentrate on. They lag infections by 2 weeks and really show if infections are slowing down or not. 

1 week before ICUs are overrun and you are not worried? And how much longer can they keep infected people isolated? Once all the methods used (successfully) before are overloaded, the numbers will soon be cause to panic. 

[wensiensheng]

7 hours ago, Pattaya Spotter said:

The vast majority of New cases are in over-crowded Bangkok and that's where any new control measures should be focused. Let's wait another 5-7 days post Songkran to see where the numbers settle. Most other countries are still in the tens of thousands of new daily cases (300k for India) and Japan is locking down Tokyo and Osaka so I wouldn't panic over a couple thousand infections.

Aaaand right there is the problem.

 

everytime any politician or anyone else says “ let’s wait till things get worse before we do anything” is repeating the mistake made in so many different countries. Incremental restrictions introduced as things gradually get worse means you are forever behind the virus curve. What has been shown to work is severe lockdown whilst there are only a few cases , stomp it out before it starts, then open up and look for the next small outbreak. All until a vaccine is distributed 

[wensiensheng]

24 minutes ago, chang1 said:

One more week before deaths start to really ramp up. Even here in the UK we are not sure about opening up due to all the new variants. So why risk it with an unprotected population?

 

You have all been vaccinated so you will but what about the rest of the population? I guess they are expendable. Sure you have ordered the extra vaccines but how long before you even get all the vulnerable people their first shot? 

Most countries vaccinated health workers first, but here many are reported as getting sick with Covid according to the other TV thread article. And yet tourism workers in phuket have been vaccinated so that they can deal with vaccinated tourists.

 

now THAT one has me stumped.

[sambum]

"Thailand reported 2,070 new coronavirus cases on Friday, the highest daily number since the pandemic started."

 

But of course, everything's under control - the Prime Minister and The Health Mionister said so!

[sambum]

Just now, sambum said:

"Thailand reported 2,070 new coronavirus cases on Friday, the highest daily number since the pandemic started."

 

But of course, everything's under control - the Prime Minister and The Health Minister said so!

 

[robertson468]

13 minutes ago, wensiensheng said:

Most countries vaccinated health workers first, but here many are reported as getting sick with Covid according to the other TV thread article. And yet tourism workers in phuket have been vaccinated so that they can deal with vaccinated tourists.

 

now THAT one has me stumped.

Also, the Thai Government has been vaccinated I believe!

[Pattaya Spotter]

30 minutes ago, chang1 said:

7 hours ago, Pattaya Spotter said:

infections

It's the rate of increasing deaths that you should concentrate on.

The numbers are so small,  it's hard to draw any conclusions from them.

[ukrules]

For their ignorance they deserve everything that's coming their way.

 

[natway09]

The PM needs a better Secretary. Only hours apart he is contradicting himself.

Promises become maybe in 2 hours.

The Thai producer of the vaccine has obviously been very slow off the markas has had a year to get this "approved" so what is the problem? They stuffed it up & gone back to square one or having a sleep.

I know the vaccine is no magic bullet but may lessen severity & would look like they are doing something.

The pathetic 1 million vaccinated is a drop in the bucket

[sambum]

7 hours ago, Pattaya Spotter said:

The vast majority of New cases are in over-crowded Bangkok and that's where any new control measures should be focused. Let's wait another 5-7 days post Songkran to see where the numbers settle. Most other countries are still in the tens of thousands of new daily cases (300k for India) and Japan is locking down Tokyo and Osaka so I wouldn't panic over a couple thousand infections.

 

And just what are the populations of India and Japan compared to Thailand?

 

To save you looking it up:- India 1,390,975,476, and Japan 126,162,025  (Substantially more than the population of Thailand which stands at 69,941,967.) (Figures from Worldometer)

 

(P.S. India's latest daily infections is shown as "only" 8,025, so maybe they have it more under control than the media would have us believe?)

[Brunolem]

47 minutes ago, chang1 said:

 

1 week before ICUs are overrun and you are not worried? 

Hardly...with 418 critical patients as of today, for the whole country, ICUs are far from overrun.

 

What is filling up the hospitals are the asymptomatic patients, which is not reason for panic.

[Pattaya Spotter]

2 minutes ago, sambum said:

 

And just what are the populations of India and Japan compared to Thailand?

 

To save you looking it up:- India 1,390,975,476, and Japan 126,162,025  (Substantially more than the population of Thailand which stands at 69,941,967.) (Figures from Worldometer)

 

(P.S. India's latest daily infections is shown as "only" 8,025, so maybe they have it more under control than the media would have us believe?)

Yes...and what point are you trying to make I'm not clear. I also tend to compare Thailand's numbers to France or Italy as the population numbers are more similar but of course there are lots of dissimilarities as well. 

 

France 31k yesterday 

Italy 15k

Thailand 3k.