Thailand reports 14,260 new COVID-19 cases, 119 more deaths

[webfact]

File photo: REUTERS/Chalinee Thirasupa

Thailand on Saturday (July 24) reported 14,260 new COVID-19 cases and 119 additional deaths over the past 24 hours. 
 

● 13,605 new infections

● 655 prison / prison infections

 

Saturday’s cases bring the total number of COVID-19 infections in Thailand to 481,967 with 3,930 deaths. 

(Total infections since April 1: 453,104)
 

The news comes as 8 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine and 5 million doses of Sinovac vaccine are being administered through to the end of August 2021, while 15.38 million doses, mainly of the same two makes, have been administered in Thailand to date, according to the Prime Minister’s Operations Centre. 

 

Meanwhie, Apisamai Srirangsan, assistant spokeswoman of the Center for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) said that the CCSA meeting agreed that 1.5 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine donated by the US would be administered on frontline medical personnel and health workers, elderly people, foreigners with chronic diseases and Thais in need of inoculation before travelling overseas.

 

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[TallGuyJohninBKK]

After a week of record breaking daily highs, Thailand on Saturday reported a slight decline in new COVID cases, but the 14,260 daily total remained above the 14,000 mark for the second straight day and 119 new deaths marked the country’s second highest total ever.

 

The 14,260 cases compared to Friday’s total of 14,575, and included 13,605 new cases among the general public and 655 new cases from Thailand’s prisons. The general public figure also was a record high, passing yesterday’s comparable 13,503 total.

 

Before Saturday, Thailand had reported record daily highs of total new COVID cases for seven of the past eight days. The 119 new deaths reported Saturday was the country’s second highest total, surpassed only by 141 deaths reported on July 17, and was an increase from Friday's 114 total.

 

Thailand has now totaled 481,967 COVID cases and 3,930 COVID deaths since the start of the pandemic in January 2020, though most of those have occurred just since this April. Overall, Thailand's current level of daily COVID cases has more than doubled from the 7,000-range in daily cases of just about two weeks ago.

 

Saturday’s update came as questions emerged about just how seriously government agencies are enforcing a whole pile of COVID-related restrictions imposed earlier in the week on Bangkok and a dozen other hard-hit provinces.

 

Among them:

--the government imposed a ban on regular domestic commercial air flights to and from Bangkok and the other dozen provinces intended to limit travel and the spread of the virus. But budget carrier Nok Air responded by announcing plans starting today for new domestic flights between six Thai cities and U-Tapao International Airport in Rayong, not far from Bangkok, but just outside the restrictions area.

 

--the government also announced it would be further restricting interprovincial travel by setting up special police checkpoints on major highways. But in recent days, expats making vehicle trips into and out of the Bangkok area reported completing their journeys without ever encountering any checkpoints.

 

--at a time when the government has ordered the closure of modest venues like public parks, libraries and museums, video emerged Friday of a major Bangkok construction site where hundreds of laborers were milling together in long queues and then getting packed into lorries.

 

--and, while the government supposedly has outlawed gatherings of more than five people in the restricted provinces, photos from a government-run COVID vaccination center in Bangkok on Friday showed hundreds of people massed outside in close quarters waiting to be processed for injections.

 

Now in the worst of a so-called third wave that began in April, Thailand’s COVID outbreak has spread lately from its original center in Bangkok and several adjoining provinces to the entire nation. All or almost all of Thailand’s 77 provinces lately have been reporting new COVID cases on a daily basis.

 

Health experts said the rising COVID case and death tolls in Thailand have been driven by the highly contagious Delta (India) variant of the coronavirus that’s now become dominant in the country. Its toll has been worsened by Thailand’s lagging COVID vaccination program that has only fully vaccinated about 5 percent of the population after months of effort, partly due to limited supplies of government procured vaccines.

 

The country’s health care system has been hit to the breaking point by the broadening pandemic. Thailand on Saturday again reported new record highs for active COVID cases hospitalized (150,248), the share of those in critical condition (4,099), and the share of critical patients on ventilators (939).

 

Total COVID hospitalizations have almost doubled in the past two weeks, and the share of those in critical condition has doubled in the past month. As of Saturday, Thailand's tally of critical condition COVID patients had risen to new daily records for the past 35 days in a row.

 

In other developments:

--A government report showed the coronavirus spreading even deeper into Thailand’s 77 provinces, with 38 of them Friday (up from 35 the prior day) reporting more than 100 new COVID cases each--one of the highest 100+ tallies in days. No province had zero new cases.

 

--Samut Sakhon, a seaside fishing industry hub, became the first Thai province besides Bangkok to post more than 1,000 new COVID cases in a single day, hitting the 1,067 mark on Friday, as local hospitalizations and COVID deaths spiraled upward.

 

--With 1.5 million Pfizer vaccine doses donated by the United States due in Thailand within the coming week, the government for the first time promised upcoming vaccination centers for foreign nationals in several specific cities outside Bangkok, including Chonburi, Khon Kaen and Phuket. Please check the government's newly updated Intervac website for more details.

 

--In recent weeks, Thailand’s COVID death toll has regularly included victims as young as their mid-20s, often with underlying medical conditions. But that situation grew even worse lately, as the government within the space of several days reported two separate COVID deaths each involving 14-year-olds.

 

--Last, the Ministry of Public Health reported Thailand has a weekly COVID death rate of about 10 deaths per million population—which is double the current per capita rates in the U.S. and the U.K. That’s the bad news. The good news is that Thailand’s rate still is about one-third the worse rates of regional neighbors such as Indonesia and Malaysia. Thailand's COVID death rate currently is running almost 700 per week or almost 100 per day on average.

 

[Bkk Brian]

New high again on community cases and the 3 digit deaths from covid continues its upward trajectory.

 

The backlash continues against the governments response to the latest wave with WHO now also weighing in saying their reaction to the new variants was ill advised.

 

14,260 positive cases today with 655 of those from prisons, 119 deaths

 

Rolling 7 day average (up to 22nd July only) which includes prison cases and bar chart of community cases.

https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus/country/thailand

[Bkk Brian]

#COVID19 Update on Saturday: 14,260 cases & 119 deaths (655 cases from prisons). Full details at 12:30pm #Thailand

20 July: 11,305 - 80 dead

21 July: 13,002 - 108 dead

22 July: 13,655 - 87 dead

23 July: 14,575 - 114 dead

24 July: 14,260 - 119 dead <— TODAY

https://twitter.com/ThaiNewsReports/status/1418734714257428480

 

[Bkk Brian]

Chonburi Public Health Office has just announced they have 662 new cases and two more deaths. Most new cases are in Chonburi City (162), Bang Lamung/Pattaya (127), and Si Racha (172). The total cases so far is now 19,114 with 8,580 remaining in care

https://twitter.com/ThaiNewsReports/status/1418721115971665923

 

[ThailandRyan]

Still showing that the threat of a possible three month lockdown as suggested by some folks in the Thai circles may become a reality.  Again this morning the news showing doctors who are upset with the Government, and first responders responding street side to calls of people dropping on the sidewalks at Talads, and even in homes as they await a bed to get treatment.  Reality of this virus is here.  Be safe and do what's needed to ensure you stay Covid free. Ambulances have been running non stop back and forth this morning.  Tells me that they are either responding to calls of a medical nature or they are headed out to retrieve people needing to go to the hospital or are headed to a hospital.

[Bkk Brian]

9 minutes ago, webfact said:

Meanwhie, Apisamai Srirangsan, assistant spokeswoman of the Center for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) said that the CCSA meeting agreed that 1.5 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine donated by the US would be administered on frontline medical personnel and health workers, elderly people, foreigners with chronic diseases and Thais in need of inoculation before travelling overseas.

So the priority list for this donation of 1.5 million Pfizer vaccines includes Thai's in need of a jab before travelling overseas? Since when is that a priority and if it is then why only Thai's?

[ThailandRyan]

4 minutes ago, Bkk Brian said:

So the priority list for this donation of 1.5 million Pfizer vaccines includes Thai's in need of a jab before travelling overseas? Since when is that a priority and if it is then why only Thai's?

Might be those needing it for their Visas for work, or for attending school, or maybe even those that need to go overseas for a trip on the Government, aka Military.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

1 hour ago, ThailandRyan said:

Still showing that the threat of a possible three month lockdown as suggested by some folks in the Thai circles may become a reality.  Again this morning the news showing doctors who are upset with the Government, and first responders responding street side to calls of people dropping on the sidewalks at Talads, and even in homes as they await a bed to get treatment.  Reality of this virus is here.  Bes safe and do what's needed to ensure you stay Covid free.

 

The Ministry of Public Health reported that as of Thursday night, they had a backlog of more than 5,400 COVID cases waiting processing to some kind of hospital facility, including 70 considered in serious condition, and 40 of those that had been waiting more than a day (as shown by the red lines on the chart). That total number included COVID cases in directed home isolation and what the government is calling community isolation centers.

 

 

 

https://www.facebook.com/informationcovid19/photos/a.106455480972785/371053914512939/?type=3

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

AstraZeneca and Pfizer to be used as booster doses for Thai medics – DDC

 

The AstraZeneca vaccine will be used as a third, booster dose for medical personnel before the arrival of the Pfizer vaccine, after which both will be used, according to Thailand’s Department of Disease Control (DDC) today (Friday).

 

The move comes due to the urgent need to protect medics, as many are still being found infected with COVID-19, despite having been given two doses of Sinovac. Recent medical findings point to the inability of the Sinovac vaccine, a whole virus type, to protect people from the newly dominant Delta variant, which is spreading rapidly in many parts of the world.

 

Thailand has received over 9.2 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine, as of last week, mostly locally produced by Siam Bioscience, with about one million doses donated by the Japanese government.

 

(more)

 

https://www.thaipbsworld.com/astrazeneca-and-pfizer-to-be-used-as-booster-doses-for-thai-medics-ddc/

 

[Danderman123]

Critics of Sinovac here have pointed at Chile as an example of the deficiencies of the Chinese vaccine, citing increasing cases despite high levels of vaccination.

 

You don’t hear about Chile anymore, because new infections are way down, as vaccination increases.

 

 

[Pattaya Spotter]

40 minutes ago, Bkk Brian said:

Chonburi Public Health Office has just announced they have 662 new cases and two more deaths. Most new cases are in Chonburi City (162), Bang Lamung/Pattaya (127), and Si Racha (172). The total cases so far is now 19,114 with 8,580 remaining in care

https://twitter.com/ThaiNewsReports/status/1418721115971665923

 

If I'm reading it right, about 19,000 infections and 94 deaths...so a .005% (half of one-percent) mortality rate.

[jacko45k]

5 minutes ago, Danderman123 said:

Critics of Sinovac here have pointed at Chile as an example of the deficiencies of the Chinese vaccine, citing increasing cases despite high levels of vaccination.

 

You don’t hear about Chile anymore, because new infections are way down, as vaccination increases.

 

 

They also introduced strict lockdowns in mid-June. 

[Pattaya Spotter]

6 minutes ago, Danderman123 said:

Critics of Sinovac here have pointed at Chile as an example of the deficiencies of the Chinese vaccine, citing increasing cases despite high levels of vaccination.

 

You don’t hear about Chile anymore, because new infections are way down, as vaccination increases.

 

 

As Singapore has said, once vaccination numbers increase, new cases aren't important...serious hospitalizations and deaths are.

[Danderman123]

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/

 

This is what happens when there is low vaccination AND restrictions are lifted:

 

Florida has half the population of Thailand, but almost the same number of infections. Note that the vast majority of cases are unvaccinated.

 

I hope that the Anti-Vaxxers and anti-lockdown types look at these numbers.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

The Ministry of Public Health's proposed distribution plan for the 1.54 million Pfizer vaccine doses donated by the United States that are supposed to be arriving soon.  It includes, as expected, a 10% set-aside of 150,000 doses for elderly foreign nationals and those with chronic diseases.

 

 

https://www.facebook.com/thiravat.h/posts/4706287906071393

 

[Bkk Brian]

2 minutes ago, Pattaya Spotter said:

If I'm reading it right, about 19,000 infections and 94 deaths...so a .005% mortality rate.

If going on those figures of 19,000 cases to 94 deaths then I make it 0.5% mortality rate

[morrobay]

10 minutes ago, Danderman123 said:

Critics of Sinovac here have pointed at Chile as an example of the deficiencies of the Chinese vaccine, citing increasing cases despite high levels of vaccination.

 

You don’t hear about Chile anymore, because new infections are way down, as vaccination increases.

 

 

Don't forget infections also go down with time as potential targets in population  decreases as population has been saturated. Even without vaccinations.

[jacko45k]

4 minutes ago, Pattaya Spotter said:

If I'm reading it right, about 19,000 infections and 94 deaths...so a .005% (half of one-percent) mortality rate.

Not sure it is sound to relate todays new infections and todays new deaths..... current deaths probably have more relation to infections from some days prior.

[placeholder]

7 minutes ago, Pattaya Spotter said:

If I'm reading it right, about 19,000 infections and 94 deaths...so a .005% (half of one-percent) mortality rate.

I think that should be 0.5%. 

EDIT: Just noticed that BKKBrian got there ahead of me.

[ThailandRyan]

Cases of infections have slowly been rising in the youth of not only the world but here in Thailand as well as the Asean countries around us.  Daily we have been seeing numbers of youth dying from Covid, but the fact is that

those aged 15 to 24 who are becoming infected has risen three-fold in about five months according to the WHO.

 

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-youth-idINKCN2502FS

 

Additionally, whole families here within the country are becoming infected and awaiting a place to be treated which is also leading to many of the family young to also become infected.  Just yesterday we were informed that the GF's daughter who had gone back to her fathers 3 weeks ago has covid and was taken to a hospital where they are treating pediatric patients, yet many others in the family have been infected now a second time in the past 3 months.

 

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-07-23/coronavirus-delta-fuelling-huge-wave-in-thailand/100310588

Living as a large family under the same roof during a COVID-19 lockdown would be challenging at the best of times, but imagine there are 14 of you and 11 are infected with the virus. That is the situation for Chaniya Tusamut's family in Thailand's capital Bangkok.  The 47-year-old was in tears as she told the ABC how heartbreaking it had been as one relative after another tested positive. The oldest was 76 years old and the youngest was just six.

[anchadian]

The Covid-19 situation continued to worsen in Southeast Asia, hitting 100,000 cases on Friday, while fatalities also hit a record high

https://www.nationthailand.com/international/40003687

[Pattaya Spotter]

29 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

The Ministry of Public Health reported that as of Thursday night, they had a backlog of more than 5,400 COVID cases waiting processing to some kind of hospital facility, including 70 considered in serious condition, and 40 of those that had been waiting more than a day.

Can we assume this is because the government has had a policy since the start of the pandemic, that almost no other country has adopted, of putting ALL positive cases into some type of medical setting, even though 50% or more of cases are asymptomatic? And they have only recently bowed to the inevitable and allowed asymptomatic and mild cases to self quarantine at home.

[Pattaya Spotter]

3 minutes ago, Bkk Brian said:

If going on those figures of 19,000 cases to 94 deaths then I make it 0.5% mortality rate

That could be interpreted as 50% but I know you don't mean that. It's the same...half of one-percent (written different ways).

[anchadian]

State regulatory process linked with Thailand’s vaccination programme delays admits top official

 

The National Vaccine Security Act 2018, a law passed by the National Legislative Assembly, appears to have been the template for the government’s incoherent vaccine programme and was brought into focus this week when the Director of the National Vaccine Institute, an agency established under its provisions, highlighted the country’s unwieldy bureaucratic process for the procurement of vaccines. Dr Nakorn Premsri was offering an apology for the delays in delivering vaccine doses in sufficient quantities for the national vaccination programme. 

 

https://www.thaiexaminer.com/thai-news-foreigners/2021/07/23/over-regulation-blamed-for-vaccine-failures/

[sezze]

2 minutes ago, Bkk Brian said:

If going on those figures of 19,000 cases to 94 deaths then I make it 0.5% mortality rate

You are looking at daily base , you have to look weekly numbers . Thailnd is also very underestimating , but ok . In UK they say 6% of people got long covid .  Even if it is 0.6% think about how many people are affected . If you are vaccinated that number does not drop to 0 , but is reduced dramatic . Deaths as well as heavy hospital admissions . It wont be 0 but it does help a lot in serious cases , look at EU numbers

 

[Pattaya Spotter]

7 minutes ago, jacko45k said:

Not sure it is sound to relate todays new infections and todays new deaths..... current deaths probably have more relation to infections from some days prior.

Yes there is a slight overlap...but even counting the 1 or 2 of the currently infected to die and stopped counting new cases today, it wouldn't affect the ratio at all.

[anchadian]

The Royal Gazette has officially announced an extension to the nationwide Emergency Decree for another two months from 1st August to 30th September 2021 http://ratchakitcha.soc.go.th/DATA/PDF/2564/E/168/T_0031.PDF… #Thailand

 

https://twitter.com/ThaiNewsReports/status/1418749082172944390

 

[ThailandRyan]

7 minutes ago, Pattaya Spotter said:

If I'm reading it right, about 19,000 infections and 94 deaths...so a .005% (half of one-percent) mortality rate.

Spotter, its not just the deaths that are a magnification of the virus and disease, it is the overfull hospitals, field hospitals, and hospitels, as well as the many who have been waiting for many days and isolating at home while waiting for a bed to be treated.  Add in the fact that the Chonburi Governor has ordered his own closures of other areas in a bid to curb the spread.  Deaths are just one component.

[smedly]

43 minutes ago, Bkk Brian said:

hai's in need of a jab before travelling overseas

If it is for two particular people (we all know who) then give them the jab jab and good riddance - but unfortunately unlikely 

 

also worth noting that sinovac is of no use for this purpose as it is not approved in many western countries