Thailand reports 2,419 new coronavirus cases, 19 new deaths

[webfact]

REUTERS FILE PHOTO for reference only

 

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand on Saturday reported 2,419 new coronavirus cases and 19 new deaths, as the country deals with a third wave of infections.

 

The new cases took the total number of infections to 81,274 and total fatalities to 382 since the pandemic started last year.

 

(Reporting by Orathai Sriring; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2021-05-08

 

- Whatever you're going through, the Samaritans are here for you

- Follow Thaivisa on LINE for breaking COVID-19 updates

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Saturday's new COVID case count of 2,419 was Thailand's highest daily figure in two weeks, but was not entirely unexpected. To cope with a series of COVID cluster outbreaks in Bangkok, the government in recent days began ramping up outreach COVID testing in the capital, looking for and finding new cases in an effort to identify and quash those clusters. Saturday's case tally was Thailand's third highest ever, and the highest since 2,438 cases on April 25.

 

On Saturday's new cases, 1,890 were said to have to have come thru self-referrals, with another 519 having been identified through outreach testing, and the remaining 10 coming from traveler quarantines. Saturday's number also was bolstered by a large cluster outbreak reported yesterday involving a canning factory in Prachuap Khiri Khan, with the province total cases increasing from 27 to 100 day to day.

 

The 19 new deaths was a decline from the 27 reported the day before, and from the peak of 31 deaths reached on May 3. However, Saturday's death toll also marked the 12th consecutive day of double digit COVID deaths in Thailand dating back to April 27.

 

In terms of hospitalizations, the total number rose slightly from 29,320 yesterday to 29,473 today. But in some good news, the share of patients listed in critical condition declined day over day from 1,170 to 1,138, which has been a rarity lately. Still, the share of critical patients requiring ventilators to breathe rose day over day from 367 to 380.

 

The chart below shows the total numbers of COVID cases and deaths in Thailand (81,274 and 382) since the start of the pandemic. The hospitalization numbers are listed in the light blue box.

 

 

The following chart shows the numbers of COVID cases and deaths since the start of Thailand's current "third wave" outbreak at the beginning of April, 52,411 and 288, respectively.

 

 

 

 

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

These rolling 7-day average charts of new COVID cases and deaths in Thailand are updated through May 6, so they are yet to reflect today's latest rise in new cases. However, they are a tool that many public health agencies use to see the broader trends of cases and deaths, apart from the daily fluctuations. And today's higher COVID case count still remains below the prior daily highs reached on April 24-25, including the record 2,839 cases on April 24.

 

 

 

 

https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus/country/thailand?country=~THA#what-is-the-daily-number-of-confirmed-cases

 

[ThailandRyan]

Thank you @TallGuyJohninBKK As usual providing us with data that we can review and see exactly what and where things are happening.  Hard to make people understand that we are in for the long haul with this without the information provided.

[keith101]

If i was living in another country and wanted to travel for a holiday Thailand with these current numbers would not make it onto a list of possibilities until at least 2022 or later .

[darksidedog]

Definitely not the right direction for the numbers to be headed. I really do not see Covid being resolved here now, for a very long time and really shows how lucky we were to temporarily dodge the bullet last year.

[RotBenz8888]

If it wasn't for the Mandatory masks in vehicles, where would we be? 

 

[Bkk Brian]

4 minutes ago, darksidedog said:

Definitely not the right direction for the numbers to be headed. I really do not see Covid being resolved here now, for a very long time and really shows how lucky we were to temporarily dodge the bullet last year.

Its so frustrating, there was plenty of real world evidence on how contagious this variant is and yet they seem to have been blind to that and did just about everything to allow it to spread this far instead of taking hard measures first.

 

Its a sad reality of the situation now, there's no getting away from it. I fear the only light at the end of the tunnel is herd immunity through vaccinations and we know how long thats going to take here.

 

Even so we still need sharp lockdown breakers now to help control this and avoid more deaths and of course the overwhelmed health service.

[ThailandRyan]

6 minutes ago, RotBenz8888 said:

If it wasn't for the Mandatory masks in vehicles, where would we be? 

 

I went for aa drive with the family yesterday just to get outside of BKK.  We all had our masks on in the car, but I watched as other cars drove by filled with families and low and behold no masks.  Waiting on a law to forbid drinking a soda while driving as well....

[Caldera]

About a week ago, the authorities said that the 3rd wave has peaked. A dubious claim at the time, and I think we can now safely say that they had no clue.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

As noted above, keep in mind that the likely reason for at least part of the upswing in the case count today is that the government this week began a more aggressive campaign of outreach testing to find new cases in Bangkok, something they had only been doing on a much more limited basis before.

 

When you go looking more for COVID cases, you're likely to find more COVID cases. That's why the Ministry of Public Health earlier this week projected that the government likely will need to bring online an additional 1,300+ new field hospital beds each and every week for the near future, to accommodate all those new patients that will be required to quarantine under the government's policy to isolate everyone testing positive for COVID.

 

The testing data chart for Thailand below is only updated through April 24, and doesn't yet reflect the increased testing begun in the past week in Bangkok cluster outbreak areas such as Khlong Toei, Pathumwan, Bang Kae and others.

 

 

https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus/country/thailand?country=~THA#what-is-the-daily-number-of-confirmed-cases

 

 

[anchadian]

6 minutes ago, ThailandRyan said:

I went for aa drive with the family yesterday just to get outside of BKK.  We all had our masks on in the car, but I watched as other cars drove by filled with families and low and behold no masks.  Waiting on a law to forbid drinking a soda while driving as well....

As we all know, this happens all over the Kingdom.

 

If only the cops would adhere to the traffic laws but unfortunately this will never happen.

[DrJack54]

7 minutes ago, Bkk Brian said:

Even so we still need sharp lockdown breakers now to help control this and avoid more deaths and of course the overwhelmed health service

Agree.

When Melbourne, Au reached ~ 1000 cases per day they went into HARD lockdown that lasted 112 days. Currently that state has zero daily positive from testing. Few days ago another state WA had ~ 2 or 3 test positive and went into 3 day lockdown. Sydney recently had couple of + tests and other states of Oz banned entries from some areas. 

Bangkok is not in lockdown. Far from it.

Granted different countries so comparison is over simplifying the issue.

[dinsdale]

Saw that 'mass testing' is really taking off in BKK. ???? 3000 a day. This is dismal. NSW govt. is disappointed that in Sydney where they are searching for a missing link and possible super spreader only 11,000 got themselves tested yesterday. They want numbers above 20,000 p/d. Sydney's population is about 1/2 of that of BKK. 3000 p/d in BKK is just not good enough. 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

20 minutes ago, dinsdale said:

Saw that 'mass testing' is really taking off in BKK. ???? 3000 a day. This is dismal. NSW govt. is disappointed that in Sydney where they are searching for a missing link and possible super spreader only 11,000 got themselves tested yesterday. They want numbers above 20,000 p/d. Sydney's population is about 1/2 of that of BKK. 3000 p/d in BKK is just not good enough. 

 

 

The stepped up outreach COVID testing program just begun in BKK is aiming to conduct about 26,000 tests PER WEEK, meaning about 3,700+ per day... The government is figuring maybe a 4 to 5 percent positivity rate as potential results... Based on the fact that they're not testing at large, but rather in suspected cluster outbreak areas. A 5 percent positivity rate on 3,700 tests per day gets you 185 extra new cases per day.

 

That's in a city of give or take 10 million people....

 

 

Edited May 8, 2021 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[anchadian]

https://twitter.com/ThaiNewsReports/status/1390861945255858177

 

The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration, in cooperation with the Institution for Urban Disease Control and Prevention and related agencies, has launched active case finding teams for COVID-19 in its six districts (Credit

@prdthailand

) #Bangkok #Thailand

 

[anchadian]

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/thailand-expects-up-20-mln-doses-pfizer-vaccine-july-2021-05-07/

 

Thailand plans to waive its mandatory quarantine for vaccinated visitors to its capital Bangkok and top tourist destinations from October, an official said on Friday, in a bid to revive a key industry battered by coronavirus travel curbs.

 

[ThailandRyan]

5 minutes ago, anchadian said:

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/thailand-expects-up-20-mln-doses-pfizer-vaccine-july-2021-05-07/

 

Thailand plans to waive its mandatory quarantine for vaccinated visitors to its capital Bangkok and top tourist destinations from October, an official said on Friday, in a bid to revive a key industry battered by coronavirus travel curbs.

 

Hopefully, this does not blowback on them and cause a major issue when folks start to become infected by a different variant carried in.

Edited May 8, 2021 by ThailandRyan

[anchadian]

https://twitter.com/ThaiNewsReports/status/1390865876908331013

 

Health officials in Prachuap Khiri Khan are reporting 108 new cases with 105 of these in Hua Hin district alone. A new cluster has been found at a canning factory. Medical workers have set up a field hospital there with enough beds for 250 patients #COVID19 #โควิดวันนี้ #Thailand

[WineOh]

1 hour ago, darksidedog said:

Definitely not the right direction for the numbers to be headed. I really do not see Covid being resolved here now, for a very long time and really shows how lucky we were to temporarily dodge the bullet last year.

Luck had everything to do with it!

It certainly was NOT down to the competence of this countries health officials.

 

Watching interviews with Anutin last May, given to a Singaporean news station, I was literally cringing behind my computer.

His arrogance was both shocking & perplexing.

The female journalist asked him something like 'do you think Thailand is doing everything it can to solve the covid crisis in the country?'

And his answer was something like 'doesn't our numbers show that we are doing everything right? doesnt the figures show that we are fighting covid the right way?'

 

At the time I saw that interview I literally felt embarrassed for him.

He seemed to have no idea that the only reason Thailands numbers were so low at that time was down to pure chance. 

Edited May 8, 2021 by WineOh

[dinsdale]

6 minutes ago, anchadian said:

https://twitter.com/ThaiNewsReports/status/1390861945255858177

 

The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration, in cooperation with the Institution for Urban Disease Control and Prevention and related agencies, has launched active case finding teams for COVID-19 in its six districts (Credit

@prdthailand

) #Bangkok #Thailand

 

It seems to read, at least for me, that they think this is somehow very good. x10 or even x5 and then I would give the final sentence some substance.

[ThailandRyan]

1 minute ago, anchadian said:

https://twitter.com/ThaiNewsReports/status/1390865876908331013

 

Health officials in Prachuap Khiri Khan are reporting 108 new cases with 105 of these in Hua Hin district alone. A new cluster has been found at a canning factory. Medical workers have set up a field hospital there with enough beds for 250 patients #COVID19 #โควิดวันนี้ #Thailand

I heard this last night. Positivity rate in the factory is large.  Had they been testing as we stated maybe this could have been found before it became a real large cluster. 

[Susco]

6 minutes ago, anchadian said:

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/thailand-expects-up-20-mln-doses-pfizer-vaccine-july-2021-05-07/

 

Thailand plans to waive its mandatory quarantine for vaccinated visitors to its capital Bangkok and top tourist destinations from October, an official said on Friday, in a bid to revive a key industry battered by coronavirus travel curbs.

 

 

Why Thailand always makes plans 6 months ahead, when they don't have the slightest control over the current situation yet?

[WineOh]

Here is the full interview.

 

Apologies, it was given last March, not may. 

[thasoss]

48 minutes ago, ThailandRyan said:

I went for aa drive with the family yesterday just to get outside of BKK.  We all had our masks on in the car, but I watched as other cars drove by filled with families and low and behold no masks.  Waiting on a law to forbid drinking a soda while driving as well....

who ever came up with this rule is a numpty

[Bkk Brian]

12 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

 

The stepped up outreach COVID testing program just begun in BKK is aiming to conduct about 26,000 tests PER WEEK, meaning about 3,700+ per day... The government is figuring maybe a 4 to 5 percent positivity rate as potential results... Based on the fact that they're not testing at large, but rather in suspected cluster outbreak areas. A 5 percent positivity rate on 3,700 tests per day gets you 185 extra new cases per day.

 

That's in a city of give or take 10 million people....

 

 

To put that in perspective, New York which has a similar population, a little under at about 8.5 million is showing a 2.41% positive rate, about 2,500 new cases per day at around 100,000 tests.

 

Mass testing really does work. 

 

https://www1.nyc.gov/site/doh/covid/covid-19-data.page

[Pattaya Spotter]

59 minutes ago, RotBenz8888 said:

If it wasn't for the Mandatory masks in vehicles, where would we be? 

 

Keeps them from getting Covid...otherwise mandatory negative test result within 72 hrs of annual registration.

[Pattaya Spotter]

56 minutes ago, Bkk Brian said:

I fear the only light at the end of the tunnel is herd immunity through vaccinations and we know how long thats going to take here.

July 1 for me...I relocated to Phuket at the beginning of March ????

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

17 minutes ago, Bkk Brian said:

To put that in perspective, New York which has a similar population, a little under at about 8.5 million is showing a 2.41% positive rate, about 2,500 new cases per day at around 100,000 tests.

 

Mass testing really does work. 

 

https://www1.nyc.gov/site/doh/covid/covid-19-data.page

 

This what you are talking about?

 

 

Keep is mind, the outreach testing in BKK isnt the ONLY testing they're doing. It's special outreach testing. All the hospitals and clinics and such are still doing the regular patient based testing as they've been doing all along. So you'd need to add those numbers to the outreach testing numbers for BKK to get an apples to apples comparison...  (get that? or maybe apples to mangos?  ????

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

WHO approves Sinopharm vaccine for emergency use

.

"The SARS-CoV-2 vaccine by China National Biotec Group (CNBG) -- a unit of state-owned Sinopharm -- joined five Western peers on the WHO's emergency list.

 

WHO approval was granted previously to the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine as well as those developed by AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson-Janssen, Moderna and the Serum Institute."

 

https://www.facebook.com/nbtworld/posts/10158001747312050

 

Note, the Sinopharm vaccine above is different from the Sinovac vaccine that's being imported into Thailand from China and currently the main vaccine in use here. Different vaccine, different manufacturer, similar names.

 

From the BBC:

 

Re Sinopharm -- It is the first vaccine developed by a non-Western country to get WHO backing.

 

A decision is expected in the coming days on another Chinese vaccine developed by Sinovac, while Russia's Sputnik vaccine is under assessment.

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-56967973

 

So thus far, the Sinovac vaccine being used in Thailand has not yet been approved by either the WHO or the CDC/FDA in the U.S.

 

 

 

Edited May 8, 2021 by TallGuyJohninBKK