Health min says citizens should only seek COVID-19 testing from registered labs

[Jonathan Fairfield]

 

BANGKOK (NNT) - The Ministry of Public Health is urging people review the Department of Medical Sciences online list of registered COVID-19 testing labs, explaining that the apparent lack of beds for patients is due to their seeking tests from unregistered private labs.

 

Director-General of the Health Service Support Department Dr. Tares Krasanaiwiwong and Director-General of the Department of Medical Sciences Dr. Supakij Sirilak led and inspection of the PCT Laboratory Service in Soi Charansanitwong 67 of Bang Plad district, Bangkok. The facility is registered with the Department of Medical Sciences and is part of its network for COVID-19 testing.

 

Deputy Minister of Public Health Satit Pitutecha joined the inspection via video conference, reiterating that, if the lab detects an infection it must forward all information to the Department of Disease Control and to its partnered medical facility. The lab has a daily testing capacity of 1,500 people a day.

 

Dr. Tares underlined the need for citizens to seek testing only at registered labs, as they are able to coordinate with hospitals and departments within three hours, to find patients a bed. The Ministry of Public Health is to inspect all registered labs in Bangkok next week and will campaign to develop proper understanding.

 

So far, six unregistered labs have been discovered. Nationwide there are 280 registered labs able to carry out 50 to 60 thousand tests a day. Dr. Supakij explained that registered labs are listed on the Department of Medical Sciences website.

 

 

 

-- © Copyright NNT 2021-04-25

 

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[thequietman]

39 minutes ago, Jonathan Fairfield said:

explained that registered labs are listed on the Department of Medical Sciences website.

It's clear that a link to the page on the website by this newspaper, is too much to ask for!  ????

[ThailandRyan]

Are there uncertified labs in this country that test people for all and sundry including now covid?

5 minutes ago, Jonathan Fairfield said:

Dr. Tares underlined the need for citizens to seek testing only at registered labs, as they are able to coordinate with hospitals and departments within three hours, to find patients a bed.

And that has worked so well that a few have died at home or after finally being found a bed 5 days later.

[Bkk Brian]

8 minutes ago, ThailandRyan said:

Are there uncertified labs in this country that test people for all and sundry including now covid?

And that has worked so well that a few have died at home or after finally being found a bed 5 days later.

By the very definition of unregistered labs finding positive cases implies those cases are not being registered in the official daily case count.

[ThailandRyan]

1 hour ago, Bkk Brian said:

By the very definition of unregistered labs finding positive cases implies those cases are not being registered in the official daily case count.

I understand that part of it, but if you are going to a lab, paying the 3500 baht or such for a pre-flight test, those labs have to be registered I would think for your results to be accepted, or else it is the same as going down to Khao San road and getting a fake test record.  Just saying.  That was my point, and sorry if I was not clear.

Edited April 25, 2021 by ThailandRyan

[grandpa]

4 hours ago, Jonathan Fairfield said:

Nationwide there are 280 registered labs able to carry out 50 to 60 thousand tests a day.

Then why are they not working at capacity?!!! According to MOPH figures they are not even testing half that number!!!

https://ddc.moph.go.th/viralpneumonia/situation.php

 

Edited April 25, 2021 by grandpa

[Bkk Brian]

1 hour ago, ThailandRyan said:

I understand that part of it, but if you are going to a lab, paying the 3500 baht or such for a pre-flight test, those labs have to be registered I would think for your results to be accepted, or else it is the same as going down to Khao San road and getting a fake test record.  Just saying.  That was my point, and sorry if I was not clear.

Yea sure I understand your point, I was just adding an extra dimension, we're on the same page

[Golden Triangle]

3 hours ago, angey said:

i wonder why the authorities allow  shisha shops and cafes to operate til early hours of the morning in nana area &,sukhmvit soi 3,soi 5,soi 11 and many other places

And just how many more threads are you going to post this on, I've seen it 3 times already ?

[Sheryl]

5 hours ago, thequietman said:

It's clear that a link to the page on the website by this newspaper, is too much to ask for!  ????

 

The list is here

https://service.dmsc.moph.go.th/labscovid19/indexen.php

[Sheryl]

2 hours ago, grandpa said:

Then why are they not working at capacity?!!! According to MOPH figures they are not even testing half that number!!!

https://ddc.moph.go.th/viralpneumonia/situation.php

 

 

They are testing  about 50,000 a day.

 

You are using the wrong site and misunderstanding what it contains (it is nit clearly explained). The daily situation reports do not give testing numbers.

 

Test data can be downloaded here   http://nextcloud.dmsc.moph.go.th/index.php/s/3aWdrNiJqKN8ZSN

 

And very good discussion/explanation, charts etc can be found here   https://github.com/djay/covidthailand/#tests-per-confirmed-case

[Bkk Brian]

15 minutes ago, Sheryl said:

 

They are testing  about 50,000 a day.

 

You are using the wrong site and misunderstanding what it contains (it is nit clearly explained). The daily situation reports do not give testing numbers.

 

Test data can be downloaded here   http://nextcloud.dmsc.moph.go.th/index.php/s/3aWdrNiJqKN8ZSN

 

And very good discussion/explanation, charts etc can be found here   https://github.com/djay/covidthailand/#tests-per-confirmed-case

 

The caveat to that "raw data" contained here http://nextcloud.dmsc.moph.go.th/index.php/s/3aWdrNiJqKN8ZSN  is that it includes all the daily tests in the labs throughout Thailand, this includes the tests done daily on arrivals from airports and subsequent testing before they leave quarantine.

 

It includes testing carried out for people leaving Thailand and needing to be tested before entry to another country. Then of course it includes all the normal daily testing numbers through pro active and hospital walk ins.  Added to this each person found positive is tested a minimum of 3 times, once when they are found positive, a second to confirm or when they arrive at hospital, then a third when they leave hospital, maybe even a fourth? So the figure of around 50,000 a day you mentioned also includes all the above.

 

However the actual filtered laboratory tests done per person which is the important count is contained here https://ddc.moph.go.th/viralpneumonia/situation.php and is updated daily. Under the title "Total number of laboratory tests"

 

Its just a case of subtracting the count each day to get the daily number: 

 

Pic of the Thai and English versions below: (english is an old one as they have not been updates yet)

 

Yesterdays figure for example was a total of 16,000 actual people tested.

 

 

 

 

[ThailandRyan]

So if I am reading the data the right way, posted below, Thailand has completed a total of 3,343,428 laboratory tests since the beginning of this pandemic starting with their first tests on January 4, 2020, a little over 15 months ago.  If that is correct, then if we use 15 months as a baseline for when the tests started then they are averaging 222,895 tests per month, using a 30 day a month average we then get an Avg. of 7,429 tests per day being undertaken.  That is the raw data found available on the web at the following databases

Total COVID-19 tests (ourworldindata.org)

https://epidemic-stats.com/

 

Edited April 25, 2021 by ThailandRyan

[Cake Monster]

4 hours ago, grandpa said:

Then why are they not working at capacity?!!! According to MOPH figures they are not even testing half that number!!!

https://ddc.moph.go.th/viralpneumonia/situation.php

 

My guess would be that they can only test what is placed in front of them

[Petey11]

Seems like a right fubar when it comes to testing, lucky they've had a whole year to get it properly organised.

[Danderman123]

4 hours ago, Bkk Brian said:

 

The caveat to that "raw data" contained here http://nextcloud.dmsc.moph.go.th/index.php/s/3aWdrNiJqKN8ZSN  is that it includes all the daily tests in the labs throughout Thailand, this includes the tests done daily on arrivals from airports and subsequent testing before they leave quarantine.

 

It includes testing carried out for people leaving Thailand and needing to be tested before entry to another country. Then of course it includes all the normal daily testing numbers through pro active and hospital walk ins.  Added to this each person found positive is tested a minimum of 3 times, once when they are found positive, a second to confirm or when they arrive at hospital, then a third when they leave hospital, maybe even a fourth? So the figure of around 50,000 a day you mentioned also includes all the above.

 

However the actual filtered laboratory tests done per person which is the important count is contained here https://ddc.moph.go.th/viralpneumonia/situation.php and is updated daily. Under the title "Total number of laboratory tests"

 

Its just a case of subtracting the count each day to get the daily number: 

 

Pic of the Thai and English versions below: (english is an old one as they have not been updates yet)

 

Yesterdays figure for example was a total of 16,000 actual people tested.

 

 

If what you say is accurate, then comparing the total tests between April 23 and April 24 shows that some 16,000 individuals were tested on April 24, which is consistent with other data I have seen. Of these 16,000 discrete individuals, some were pro-active tests, and some were walk-ins, presumably with symptoms. And some number were individuals in ASQ (quarantined people entering Thailand, who are tested 2 or 3 times). Most of the latter are healthy, having been tested before they enter Thailand, ie in their home countries.

 

so ....there is no way to determine positivity rate from this mish-mash of data. With no information on the number of positive cases from pro-active testing, this is not a useful data source.

[Bkk Brian]

5 hours ago, ThailandRyan said:

So if I am reading the data the right way, posted below, Thailand has completed a total of 3,343,428 laboratory tests since the beginning of this pandemic starting with their first tests on January 4, 2020, a little over 15 months ago.  If that is correct, then if we use 15 months as a baseline for when the tests started then they are averaging 222,895 tests per month, using a 30 day a month average we then get an Avg. of 7,429 tests per day being undertaken.  That is the raw data found available on the web at the following databases

Total COVID-19 tests (ourworldindata.org)

https://epidemic-stats.com/

 

Thats around correct yes, the latest raw data update is 3,917,137. 

 

However this is not people tested it is all tests period, the documentation states this includes all repeat tests.  Impossible to work out how many people were tested and so impossible to work out the positive percentage.

 

Then you have to factor in all the other tests carried out for airport arrivals/dept or any others. 

 

The daily official updates by CCSA however filters those raw figures into the total lab tests done for walk ins and pro active case finding, those are the ones I put on a graph when they are updated. These are the ones that can be used for find the positive rate.

Edited April 25, 2021 by Bkk Brian

[Bkk Brian]

2 hours ago, Danderman123 said:

If what you say is accurate, then comparing the total tests between April 23 and April 24 shows that some 16,000 individuals were tested on April 24, which is consistent with other data I have seen. Of these 16,000 discrete individuals, some were pro-active tests, and some were walk-ins, presumably with symptoms.

Thats correct, 16,000 is what I had aswell. That number however is only for walk in cases and pro active testing, it does not count repeat testing or any other testing like airport arrival, in other words it is actual people being tested, so its accurate enough to get a positive case finding percentage.

 

I used to follow the daily test number in the UK last year and they used to publish on twitter two separate totals, the daily tested people and the daily tests, huge difference in numbers.

 

I've not checked how they do it for months now though.

Edited April 25, 2021 by Bkk Brian

[Sheryl]

5 hours ago, ThailandRyan said:

So if I am reading the data the right way, posted below, Thailand has completed a total of 3,343,428 laboratory tests since the beginning of this pandemic starting with their first tests on January 4, 2020, a little over 15 months ago.  If that is correct, then if we use 15 months as a baseline for when the tests started then they are averaging 222,895 tests per month, using a 30 day a month average we then get an Avg. of 7,429 tests per day being undertaken.  That is the raw data found available on the web at the following databases

Total COVID-19 tests (ourworldindata.org)

https://epidemic-stats.com/

 

Averaging doesn't make sense because the number of daily tests has varied enormously over time. During thevlull between 1st and 2nd wave testing numbers were way down. Then ramped up when cases began to be detected again.

 

The number of registered testing facilities also changed over time. From less than a handful at the very start to 270 now.

 

They are doing more tests per day now than they have ever before done. With good reason, obviously. 

 

 

[hotchilli]

22 hours ago, Jonathan Fairfield said:

The Ministry of Public Health is urging people review the Department of Medical Sciences online list of registered COVID-19 testing labs, explaining that the apparent lack of beds for patients is due to their seeking tests from unregistered private labs.

Begs the question, how does an unregistered lab obtain test kits?

[rickudon]

On 4/26/2021 at 6:58 AM, hotchilli said:

Begs the question, how does an unregistered lab obtain test kits?

Homemade?