Confirmed Omicron cases in Thailand have increased to 739, including 488 cases among arrivals from abroad and 251 locally-acquired cases, according to Dr. Supakit Sirilak, director-general of the Medical Services Department.

 

He said that all the cases have been confirmed through whole genome sequencing tests, adding that full details about Omicron infections will be given at a press conference scheduled for this afternoon.

 

Meanwhile, Dr. Prasert Kitsuwanrat, provincial health chief of the northern province of Lampang, announced today (Wednesday) that the first Omicron case in the province was detected in a Thai woman who recently arrived from Switzerland, where she worked as a house cleaner.

 

Full Story: https://www.thaipbsworld.com/medical-sciences-department-reports-total-of-739-omicron-cases-in-thailand/

 

-- © Copyright Thai PBS 2021-12-29

 

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DPM Anutin: Thailand is able to handle Omicron variant

Beyond laughable.

 

There's a lot more than they know about, that's for sure.

28 minutes ago, ukrules said:

There's a lot more than they know about, that's for sure.

 

They are at least 3 or 4 days behind the true numbers.

 

My staff (2) tested positive on Sunday in Chiang Mai and put into hospital same day - they received confirmation that they have Omicron strain only this evening.

 

One is ok, the other has been on oxygen for 2 days and quite sick. They both had double jabs and boosters (not sure what booster was but 2 shots were Sinopharm).

 

They both started with a scratchy throat and a sniffle and cough and within 1 day were both feeling really bad. They had tested negative with ATK on the previous Friday morning. 

 

They know who they got infected (inbound tourist who tested negative in home country, BKK hotel and ATK) from and that person is also in hospital.

 

I have seen how fast this variant infects, and the infections were not trivial.

 

Personally, I think this is going to rip through Thailand. Maybe less sick people, but could overwhelm testing and hospital. 4th January re-opening will not happen in my opinion.

So this lady arrived 24th , tested negative, and then appears to have travelled north and then 4 days later showed positive for omicron ? Just as likely to have got that on her internal travels than the plane. She travel by cramped bus ? 

you cannot have just 700 cases of omicron, it has an R+ rate of +3  all over the world, but of course superduper Anutin the next Thai PM 555 knows better - I hope he has an exit plan brcause the Thai people are fed up being robbed

 

 

nothing much more to add

8 hours ago, DLock said:

but could overwhelm testing

care to elaborate 

 

?

Up, up and away, 10k to 20k per day in the next week or two.

 

This certainly won't be the real number though, just a sampling based on the tests they can be bothered to do.

Cannot link but BaPo article yesterday indicates that after 19 days Kalasin cluster still dominates Thai Omicron infections.

They count this new virus variation like they count Road fatalities TIT

4 hours ago, RichardColeman said:

So this lady arrived 24th , tested negative, and then appears to have travelled north and then 4 days later showed positive for omicron ? Just as likely to have got that on her internal travels than the plane. She travel by cramped bus ? 

Thinking the same thing. I read where Thai officials say foreigners  are coming into Thailand on test and go  and bringing Covid with them. Only problem with that is many of these people are testing negative before they get on plane, then negative once they get to Test and go hotel, then cut loose to travel anywhere in Thailand for 7 days. Then test positive. Good chance they are getting infected here in Thailand

Then that would mean for the recent arrivals -- Thai or foreign -- when they check the places on their timelines that they are claimed to have infected, there should be other infections at the same time or prior to there arrival.

 

Are there?

3 hours ago, smedly said:

you cannot have just 700 cases of omicron, it has an R+ rate of +3  all over the world, but of course superduper Anutin the next Thai PM 555 knows better - I hope he has an exit plan brcause the Thai people are fed up being robbed

 

 

nothing much more to add

Now in a perfect world if they just reported the deaths from Omicron they would have nothing to report.

12 hours ago, DLock said:

Personally, I think this is going to rip through Thailand. Maybe less sick people, but could overwhelm testing and hospital. 4th January re-opening will not happen in my opinion.

I'm with you on that thought, I think early-mid January will see numbers spiral as people return to cities & work.

Yet again the government is reluctant to say to people, don't travel, don't go to large gatherings and 

be vigilant.

And lastly the government is stupidly allowing provinces to have large festivals with the same precautions that are at airports and is obviously not working.

4 hours ago, smedly said:

I hope he has an exit plan brcause the Thai people are fed up being robbed

Unfortunately it's the opposite, he has the notion he would make the next best PM

this is going to be a tricky one both Omicron and the flue have same Simpsons so they going to be mixed up

2 hours ago, ukrules said:

Up, up and away, 10k to 20k per day in the next week or two.

 

This certainly won't be the real number though, just a sampling based on the tests they can be bothered to do.

Agreed, its impossible now to keep up with the genomic sequencing so there will be many more undetected until it soon becomes dominant and sequencing is not so important. As in other countries who now rely not only on sequencing but also rapid tests to detect Omicron through the S gene drop out.

 

Thailand has for some reason stopped reporting its ATK test results for the last few days.

 

While its clear Omicron causes less deaths the sheer numbers will still cause huge problems in all sectors including health.

 

Confirmed Omicron cases in Thailand have increased to 739

Looking around the globe, I think they forgot a 0 at the end.

Typical number fudge!

4 hours ago, smedly said:

care to elaborate 

 

?

No need to elaborate unless your a hermit. Then of course your unlikely to be infected anyway. 

6 hours ago, RichardColeman said:

So this lady arrived 24th , tested negative, and then appears to have travelled north and then 4 days later showed positive for omicron ? Just as likely to have got that on her internal travels than the plane. She travel by cramped bus ? 

No, he arrived on the 22nd into Thailand and traveled to Chiang Mai by plane on the 23rd.

 

Was ATK tested negative on 24th as standard protocol.

 

On 25th, was showing symptoms of sore throat, cough and general lethargy - was put in isolation on the 25th.

 

Tested positive on morning of 26th. Had to arrange specialty transport to hospital for PCR testing (2,000 baht each way). Despite having significant symptoms, was sent back to await tests, but with 18,000 baht of medication. This was an unnecessary risk IMO. Staff also tested positive on ATK test and went for PCR test's with symptoms and tested positive. Admitted to hospital that evening - a family member of staff tested positive and now admitted to hospital.

 

PCR test was 3,800 baht for the foreigner and 800 baht for Thai.

 

PCR test came back positive for COVID at 6.30pm, and person was shipped back to hospital again.

 

Interesting that despite having good Insurance, person had to pay 150,000 baht upfront to be admitted. Hospital would not accept Insurance as a form of payment, and person will have to claim when they get home.

 

Omicron confirmation came back on 29th after being sent to BKK. - 3 days later.

 

The 2 Thai staff member are both still in hospital and they are fully paid for by the Government.

 

Now the fun begins. Because it has tested as Omicron, the CDC are demanding every staff do a PCR test and anyone that came in contact with that person isolate at home, and they are doing contact tracing.

 

Yes, it's very possible that this person was infected on the flight, as I saw how fast it spread to my staff, so do not believe they could have travelled and past BKK PCR test with Omicron.

 

...and that's where we are today.

 

Two solutions?  Deal with it or lock it down like China?  last time I read when there was one case, health minister? Anutin  "  Covid no match for Thailand "  ????   now we can stick our heads in the sand yell out " Thai hater "  go with Anutin thinking and just go on with our lives that he and the leaders can handle or just pray and pray?????

4 hours ago, smedly said:

care to elaborate 

 

?

I mean the Omicron strain testing that happens in BKK, which took 3 days to return the result.

 

If they get thousands of cases in the next few weeks, and want to Omicron test each case, I think they will be overwhelmed.

 

At some point soon, they will just declare every case likely Omicron.

 

The PCR test wait was already 8 hours, then 3 more days for Omicron results - that's just not realistic given the speed that Omicron travels.

1 hour ago, johnarth said:

this is going to be a tricky one both Omicron and the flue have same Simpsons so they going to be mixed up

If there were only some lab test that could distinguish between Covid and influenza.... 

15 minutes ago, DLock said:

No, he arrived on the 22nd into Thailand and traveled to Chiang Mai by plane on the 23rd.

 

Was ATK tested negative on 24th as standard protocol.

 

On 25th, was showing symptoms of sore throat, cough and general lethargy - was put in isolation on the 25th.

 

Tested positive on morning of 26th. Had to arrange specialty transport to hospital for PCR testing (2,000 baht each way). Despite having significant symptoms, was sent back to await tests, but with 18,000 baht of medication. This was an unnecessary risk IMO. Staff also tested positive on ATK test and went for PCR test's with symptoms and tested positive. Admitted to hospital that evening - a family member of staff tested positive and now admitted to hospital.

 

PCR test was 3,800 baht for the foreigner and 800 baht for Thai.

 

PCR test came back positive for COVID at 6.30pm, and person was shipped back to hospital again.

 

Interesting that despite having good Insurance, person had to pay 150,000 baht upfront to be admitted. Hospital would not accept Insurance as a form of payment, and person will have to claim when they get home.

 

Omicron confirmation came back on 29th after being sent to BKK. - 3 days later.

 

The 2 Thai staff member are both still in hospital and they are fully paid for by the Government.

 

Now the fun begins. Because it has tested as Omicron, the CDC are demanding every staff do a PCR test and anyone that came in contact with that person isolate at home, and they are doing contact tracing.

 

Yes, it's very possible that this person was infected on the flight, as I saw how fast it spread to my staff, so do not believe they could have travelled and past BKK PCR test with Omicron.

 

...and that's where we are today.

 

With the costs and consequences of getting infected here, this virus will blow through Thailand with super speed, as most will not seek medical attention unless being really sick.

 

2 minutes ago, khunpa said:

With the costs and consequences of getting infected here, this virus will blow through Thailand with super speed, as most will not seek medical attention unless being really sick.

 

There is that, bit I think the biggest risk is the people who contract Omicron with minimal or no symptoms and spread it without knowing.

 

...and the 3 jabs that my staff received...did not seem to help much.

 

The speed that these infections went from mild symptom to very sick was a day.

Just to put the numbers in perspective, the UK had 183,000 Covid cases yesterday, 138,000 of which were in England. Thailand might be under-reporting, but still the numbers must surely be a small fraction of the number found elsewhere. Until the NY exodus from Bangkok to spread it country-wide in large numbers.

30 minutes ago, Danderman123 said:

If there were only some lab test that could distinguish between Covid and influenza.... 

There is. It's here (in the US at least) already:

 

https://www.cdc.gov/csels/dls/locs/2021/07-21-2021-lab-alert-Changes_CDC_RT-PCR_SARS-CoV-2_Testing_1.html

27 minutes ago, DLock said:Tested positive on morning of 26th. Had to arrange specialty transport to hospital for PCR testing (2,000 baht each way). Despite having significant symptoms, was sent back to await tests, but with 18,000 baht of medication. This was an unnecessary risk IMO. Staff also tested positive on ATK test and went for PCR test's with symptoms and tested positive. Admitted to hospital that evening - a family member of staff tested positive and now admitted to hospital.

 

Interesting that despite having good Insurance, person had to pay 150,000 baht upfront to be admitted. Hospital would not accept Insurance as a form of payment, and person will have to claim when they get home.

 

 

 

Here lies the problem? If it was me in this situation, I would be telling the G/F to hide the credit cards, and refusing the 18000B anti-virals, as in my own country  I would be sent home and told to take some paracetamol? I paid the extra for the Thai insurance for this (despite having £15m of comprehensive farang insurance), let them sort it out? 

14 hours ago, ukrules said:

There's a lot more than they know about, that's for sure.

I landed here yesterday from the UK . Had pcr before and after landing . Stayed in a hotel for 2 days even though 24 hrs only required. Tested myself with lateral flow test I brought with me then went home to my family.  Because of work and obviously COVID this is my first time here for 2 years. 
 

The extended family were “ joking “ that I probably have omicron as I have come from  England . So I got my NHS test kits and asked if they would like to test…….oh no we don’t need to test.  So yeh I’m sure it’s rife here. They have never tested themselves. I’m pretty sure the only people here tested are the ones seriously not well and already in hospital. Where as in the UK we are test mad! Even me !