Thailand's COVID-19 cases surge to 5,775 new cases, 11 more deaths

[Sheryl]

1 hour ago, DavisH said:

Do you know the roughcosts for foreigner's that are hospitalised under various scenarios: 1) no symptoms, 2) mild symptoms, 3) serious condition, ICU etc. I would say most (private school) teachers here have no insurance at all, or certaianly not enough to cover medical costs. 

1 & 2 are not very different (if at all) in cost. Depending on hospital/facility, 100 - 150k baht if hospitalized in a private hospital. If you can manage to get into a "field hospital" costs will be less or even nil but they are pretty miserable places to be. If you can manage to get approved for home quarantine (a few long time foreign residents have apparently been able to do this but not many) then much lower costs, just that of testing and meds.

 

#3, sky is the limit depending on how sick you are.  Worst case is easily a million baht in a government hospital and 3-5 million in private.

 

I would note however that there are far greater odds of incurring expenses on that scale due to an accident (car, motorcycle or even struck crossing the street as a pedestrian) than to COVID. Happens to a lot of foreigners here.  It is a mistake to worry just about COVID.

 

Being here without proper insurance or funds to cover catastrophic medical costs is a huge mistake and COVID is the least of it.

 

Best advise is to take out comprehensive health insurance that will include, but is not limited to, COVID.

 

 

[anchadian]

3 hours ago, Bkk Brian said:

Thailand has enough hospital beds in case of Omicron surge

 

“Bangkok has up to 11,000 beds available for patients with severe symptoms, 6,000 beds for level 2 patients, and 5,000 beds for level 3 patients.”

 

“From the statistics of Omicron cases in Thailand, 48 per cent are asymptomatic, while 41 per cent have mild symptoms,” Somsak pointed out. “These patients can be treated at isolation centres and will not require hospital beds,” he said.

 

https://www.nationthailand.com/in-focus/40010786

Pattaya hotels to open as isolation facilities for COVID-19 patients

 

The administration of Bang Lamung district in Thailand’s Chon Buri province, which includes Pattaya, is making preparations to convert hotels into “hospitels” with a capacity to accommodate 2,500 COVID-19 patients initially, if daily infections continue to rise steadily.

 

https://www.thaipbsworld.com/pattaya-hotels-to-open-as-isolation-facilities-for-covid-19-patients/

[Cherrytreeview]

1 hour ago, Bkk Brian said:

Guideline for Alert Level 4:

Refrain from eating & drinking in restaurants

Refrain from entering risky places

Avoid meeting people outside of your home

Avoid groups

Refrain from taking public transport

Refrain from going abroad

Quarantine on entry to Thailand

https://twitter.com/RichardBarrow/status/1478945825988354048

 

More like the CCP's approach.

The PM in the UK was asked repeatedly yesterday when will all restrictions be lifted and when will the UK learn to coexist with Covid.

Omicron, or further variants, will continue to circulate for centuries.

Thailand would be better concentrating on boosters rather than hysterical panicking.

Edited January 6, 2022 by Cherrytreeview
Edit

[NicholasTH]

17 minutes ago, Cherrytreeview said:

More like the CCP's approach.

The PM in the UK was asked repeatedly yesterday when will all restrictions be lifted and when will the UK learn to coexist with Covid.

Omicron, or further variants, will continue to circulate for centuries.

Thailand would be better concentrating on boosters rather than hysterical panicking.

I have got to that stage where I just focus on myself nowadays..

 

also studying infectious diseases has help me a lot..

 

and if people want to keep running into the fire and keep on getting burned shame on them really.,

 

 

[arithai12]

6 hours ago, Pravda said:

 

It is not overblown. Try watching the news where countries actually take care of its citizens with doctors and nurses overwhelmed. Not everyone is spending their time in tropical country being a chief medical officer.

I do watch other news, but as far as I can tell no one is actually telling how many healthy, vaccinated, not too old people among the millions infected are in serious condition due to Omicron. Perhaps you have this info?

As for "doctors and nurses overwhelmed", again what I understand is that it's mainly due to many of them being on vacation or refusing to go to work. In my country, they are crying bloody murder with less than 15% of the ICU occupancy (mostly by non-vaccinated). During the peak of Delta, it was 100% and people were being refused.

Since the initial info we read (but again perhaps you know more) is that Omicron results in most cases in no symptoms, or symptoms such as headache, and that the numbers are starting to decline in countries who got it first such as S. Africa, UK, Denmark, I call the reaction to Omicron overblown.

My personal opinion only of course.

 

 

 

[Bkk Brian]

2 hours ago, Bkk Brian said:

Guideline for Alert Level 4:

Refrain from eating & drinking in restaurants

Refrain from entering risky places

Avoid meeting people outside of your home

Avoid groups

Refrain from taking public transport

Refrain from going abroad

Quarantine on entry to Thailand

https://twitter.com/RichardBarrow/status/1478945825988354048

 

Pub-like Eateries to Be Closed at Level 4 COVID Alert

 

BANGKOK, Jan 6 (TNA) – The Public Health Ministry raised its COVID-19 alert level to Level 4 which will result in the closure of the eateries that are similar to pubs and bars as well as liquor premises.

 

Announcing the level 4 COVID-19 alert, Deputy Prime Minister and Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said that the level 4 alert was likely to lead to restriction on alcohol consumption because it was a main factor of outbreaks. He declined to answer if a lockdown measure would be necessary under the worst-case scenario and said that the Public Health Ministry imposed measures to protect people.

 

Mr Anutin said that the treatment of COVID-19 patients would depend mainly on home isolation (HI) and community isolation (CI) to keep hospital beds for critically ill patients.

 

https://tna.mcot.net/english-news-856606

[ukrules]

7 minutes ago, arithai12 said:

I do watch other news, but as far as I can tell no one is actually telling how many healthy, vaccinated, not too old people among the millions infected are in serious condition due to Omicron. Perhaps you have this info?

As for "doctors and nurses overwhelmed", again what I understand is that it's mainly due to many of them being on vacation or refusing to go to work. In my country, they are crying bloody murder with less than 15% of the ICU occupancy (mostly by non-vaccinated). During the peak of Delta, it was 100% and people were being refused.

Since the initial info we read (but again perhaps you know more) is that Omicron results in most cases in no symptoms, or symptoms such as headache, and that the numbers are starting to decline in countries who got it first such as S. Africa, UK, Denmark, I call the reaction to Omicron overblown.

My personal opinion only of course.

 

 

 

Indeed, staff absences due to isolation regulations at the hospitals are causing serious problems in the UK

 

There's plenty of 'beds' available but less staff, I did read something about ICU staff being redeployed to other areas where they're needed more, the reverse of what was happening in the Delta wave.

 

This is different and brings a new set of problems, however they will only be temporary, each wave of staff absences will pass after 7 days, how many waves of absences there will be remains unknown - it will likely continue until they've all been infected which could take a few months.

 

[Bkk Brian]

19 minutes ago, arithai12 said:

As for "doctors and nurses overwhelmed", again what I understand is that it's mainly due to many of them being on vacation or refusing to go to work. In my country, they are crying bloody murder with less than 15% of the ICU occupancy (mostly by non-vaccinated). During the peak of Delta, it was 100% and people were being refused.

No the staff absences are not due to vacations or because they are refusing to work, the most inconsiderate statement I've heard for a long time. The staff shortages are real but they are real due to them been infected then having to isolate and not go into work with Omicron, ending up infecting patients who do not have it.

 

This is indeed creating huge problems along with the growing covid cases in England, only London has so far slowed down and hopefully peaked in admissions.

 

[anchadian]

The public health minister said that he could not say for sure whether lockdown restrictions will be re-imposed, to cope with the rapid surge in COVID-19 infections since the end of the long New Year holidays.

 

https://www.thaipbsworld.com/deadline-for-arrivals-under-thailands-test-and-go-scheme-may-be-extended-to-mid-january/?utm_source=thaip.bs&utm_medium=urlshortener&utm_campaign&utm_term&utm_content

[ThailandRyan]

4 minutes ago, anchadian said:

The public health minister said that he could not say for sure whether lockdown restrictions will be re-imposed, to cope with the rapid surge in COVID-19 infections since the end of the long New Year holidays.

 

https://www.thaipbsworld.com/deadline-for-arrivals-under-thailands-test-and-go-scheme-may-be-extended-to-mid-january/?utm_source=thaip.bs&utm_medium=urlshortener&utm_campaign&utm_term&utm_content

Sounds like we are once again going backwards. 1 step forward then 2 steps back.  I thought we, or better yet, this government stated it was time we learned to live with Covid and there was no going back.

[anchadian]

No report as yet re the total number of vaccinations administered yesterday.

 

Possibly an embarrassment if they were published today, considering the very low doses over the last several days.

[Bkk Brian]

1 minute ago, anchadian said:

No report as yet re the total number of vaccinations administered yesterday.

 

Possibly an embarrassment if they were published today, considering the very low doses over the last several days.

They've also stopped publishing the vaccine statistics in the daily briefing media notes, not been included in there for over a week.

https://media.thaigov.go.th/uploads/public_img/source/060164.pdf

[ThailandRyan]

3 minutes ago, Bkk Brian said:

They've also stopped publishing the vaccine statistics in the daily briefing media notes, not been included in there for over a week.

https://media.thaigov.go.th/uploads/public_img/source/060164.pdf

That would make another loss of face. We did not hit 70% by the end of the year. 100 million was only obtained by boosters being added. Hi-Season a loss and not as some stated would be a success. Then add in the Test N Go scheme issues now being felt, and then....well you can keep on adding on more if you want.

Edited January 6, 2022 by ThailandRyan

[Bkk Brian]

6 minutes ago, ThailandRyan said:

Sounds like we are once again going backwards. 1 step forward then 2 steps back.  I thought we, or better yet, this government stated it was time we learned to live with Covid and there was no going back.

Yea, not so long ago Anutin and others were talking about living with it. Now we can see what they mean by that. They work from home and everyone else suffers.

 

I accept that has to be measures so as not to overwhelm hospitals but surely those of home isolation, vaccinations and obviously high risk gatherings such as the new years eve parties they promoted should have been the first.

[Dogmatix]

The mother-in-law who is staying with us in Bkk told me that the extended family of her 90 year old uncle visited him in the village over the New Year, with the usual bodies sleeping all of the floor in close proximity. Now every single one of them has tested positive including the uncle.

[Dogmatix]

6 hours ago, Macrohistory said:

 

I agree.  South Africa has a population close in size to that of the UK, but the highest case number it ever reported during the Omicron wave was c. 37,000.  That's many times lower than the highest UK case number of >200,000.  Doesn't make sense.  Even though SA had been hit by other variants before, it was also under-vaccinated when Omicron came calling.

 

Excess deaths is a much harder figure to massage.

 

The South African numbers are like the Thai numbers - untrustworthy.

[Cake Monster]

From reports I have been given by somebody in State quarantine in Pattaya, its all getting very overwhelmed very quickly, and the Q facility these people are in is now full, and they are sending people to BKK for Quarantine and treatment.

[Cake Monster]

2 hours ago, anchadian said:

Pattaya hotels to open as isolation facilities for COVID-19 patients

 

The administration of Bang Lamung district in Thailand’s Chon Buri province, which includes Pattaya, is making preparations to convert hotels into “hospitels” with a capacity to accommodate 2,500 COVID-19 patients initially, if daily infections continue to rise steadily.

 

https://www.thaipbsworld.com/pattaya-hotels-to-open-as-isolation-facilities-for-covid-19-patients/

I have a Thai Friend who has already been in Hotel Isolation since Jan 1st.

The facility  they are in is now full, and are taking in no new cases.

Cases are now being sent to BKK

[Bkk Brian]

Phuket the most infected Province in Thailand per 100k population

 

 

[anchadian]

 

3.7 million Moderna vaccines arriving in January, 1.3 million today

 

Jabby New Year’s! The start of 2022 will see a total of 3.7 million Moderna vaccines arriving in Thailand to continue to combat the Covid-19 pandemic, with the first 1.3 million doses arriving today. Zuellig Pharma Therapeutics, the distributers of the Moderna vaccine will be delivering the 3.7 million vaccines in 3 shipments to the Government Pharmaceutical Organisation and private hospitals around the country throughout the month of January.

 

https://thethaiger.com/coronavirus/3-7-million-moderna-vaccines-arriving-in-january-1-3-million-today

[anchadian]

1 hour ago, anchadian said:

No report as yet re the total number of vaccinations administered yesterday.

 

Possibly an embarrassment if they were published today, considering the very low doses over the last several days.

According to my calculations,  I have deducted total vaccinations administered from Tuesday figures from yesterday's total figures which gives me:

 

1st dose:    38,854

2nd dose: 148,427

3rd dose:  214605

 

Total doses administered yesterday 401,886

 

https://ddc.moph.go.th/covid19-dashboard/?dashboard=main

 

 

Edited January 6, 2022 by anchadian

[Mr Derek]

We need the Delta and Omicron figures separated out. This is crucial. Why are we not being told?

 

How many of those 11 deaths were directly caused by Covid or for people who just happened to have Covid (including asymptomatic Omicron)? That is also crucial. Why are we not being told?

 

And for the last time: can ATK tests detect Omicron or not? I am so far assuming NOT but that they are being pushed just to keep people in a state of vigilance.

[Bkk Brian]

23 minutes ago, Mr Derek said:

We need the Delta and Omicron figures separated out. This is crucial. Why are we not being told?

 

How many of those 11 deaths were directly caused by Covid or for people who just happened to have Covid (including asymptomatic Omicron)? That is also crucial. Why are we not being told?

 

And for the last time: can ATK tests detect Omicron or not? I am so far assuming NOT but that they are being pushed just to keep people in a state of vigilance.

Relax, current deaths are all most likely from Delta, time lag is still in play. When Thailand does have its first Omicron death it will probably be announced in a similar way other countries have done. 

 

ATK tests detect covid not a variant of it.

[Kinnock]

6 minutes ago, Mr Derek said:

 

 

And for the last time: can ATK tests detect Omicron or not? I am so far assuming NOT but that they are being pushed just to keep people in a state of vigilance.

It's an early report, so not peer reviewed, but seems to show ATK is less effective with Omicron compared to earlier strains.

 

"Overall, we have found a tendency towards lower sensitivity for Omicron compared to pre-VOC SARS-CoV-2 and the other VOCs across tests"

 

https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.12.18.21268018v1

[Cherrytreeview]

2 hours ago, ThailandRyan said:

That would make another loss of face. We did not hit 70% by the end of the year. 100 million was only obtained by boosters being added. Hi-Season a loss and not as some stated would be a success. Then add in the Test N Go scheme issues now being felt, and then....well you can keep on adding on more if you want.

A rather crushing but, unfortunately correct, summation of Thailand's response to Covid.

Seems "our friend" has taken a bit of a sabbatical from posting.

Maybe the sheer weight of facts have made him throw in the towel.

However, I some how doubt it.

It's been nice to have fact based discussions without the constant irrelevant, unfactual and infantile interruptions.

[Petey11]

57 minutes ago, Kinnock said:

It's an early report, so not peer reviewed, but seems to show ATK is less effective with Omicron compared to earlier strains.

 

"Overall, we have found a tendency towards lower sensitivity for Omicron compared to pre-VOC SARS-CoV-2 and the other VOCs across tests"

 

https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.12.18.21268018v1

Read a few articles along those lines in UK. They are leaning toward the thinking that the nasal only swab kits are not picking up the infection until quite late as Omicron manifests itself in the throat rapidly. Saying throat and nasal swabs combined are better at detecting Omicron.

[Bkk Brian]

14 minutes ago, Petey11 said:

Read a few articles along those lines in UK. They are leaning toward the thinking that the nasal only swab kits are not picking up the infection until quite late as Omicron manifests itself in the throat rapidly. Saying throat and nasal swabs combined are better at detecting Omicron.

I wonder what the implications are for saliva only ATK's then? These are the ones my family uses

[ThailandRyan]

14 minutes ago, Bkk Brian said:

I wonder what the implications are for saliva only ATK's then? These are the ones my family uses

That's the ones my friend used and he was positive using a saliva test but not when he checked with a Nasal swab ATK test kit. He then checked a second time 3 hours later and was positive on the saliva test but again negative on the nasal swab test.  He is isolating because he tested positive, but did not wish to take a PCR test.

 

I wrote about this earlier in the thread as he thought he had strep because of the very sore throat he had as well as the chest congestion.

 

I would think that as you need to evacuate your nostrils through your throat and then expectorate into the sample cup after clearing your throat you would actually have a test result for Omicron with the saliva test that the nasal swabs are not picking up until the virus is well onboard.

Edited January 6, 2022 by ThailandRyan

[Bkk Brian]

Thai business sector objects to sweeping restrictions to cope with new wave of COVID-19

 

Thai Chamber of Commerce (TCC) Chairman Sanan Angubolkul disagrees with raising the COVID-19 alert level to the extent that business activities are locked down again, saying that such a decisive measure would drive the country backward.

 

Sanan pointed out that the situation is very different from last year, because most of the population are now vaccinated, with many fully inoculated. Last year, however, only a small number of people had received vaccine shots, which were also in short supply.

 

He said that sledgehammer measures, such as a complete lockdown, may stop the spread of the virus temporarily, but the impacts on the economy will be devastating.

 

https://www.thaipbsworld.com/thai-business-sector-objects-to-sweeping-restrictions-to-cope-with-new-wave-of-covid-19/?

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

4 hours ago, anchadian said:

No report as yet re the total number of vaccinations administered yesterday.

 

Possibly an embarrassment if they were published today, considering the very low doses over the last several days.

 

This is for the day prior, Jan. 4.... not yesterday. But worth noting that the government still has NOT reached its original self-stated goal of getting 70% of the population "fully vaccinated" with two shots.

 

And, just barely have got 70%+ percent of the population vaccinated with at least 1 shot. Meaning, according to their own stats, there remains almost 30% of the Thai population out there that's received NO vaccine thus far.

 

And that's not even factoring in the additional complications that a lot of the original two dose vaccinations, at this point months later, are likely of only little to no effect in preventing those people from becoming infected. Because the original vaccines were non-mMRA and so much time has passed since the original doses.

 

 

 

https://fb.watch/amGhfs8zUZ/

 

Edited January 6, 2022 by TallGuyJohninBKK