COVID-19 - April 23: Thailand reports 20,052 new coronavirus cases, 22,361 recoveries, 129 deaths

webfact · April 23, 2022

File photo

Thailand on Saturday (April 23) reported 20,052 new COVID-19 cases, 22,361 recoveries and 129 additional deaths over the past 24 hours.

Saturday’s cases bring the total number of COVID-19 infections in Thailand to 4,148,090 with 27,649 deaths.

The news comes the Center for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) on Friday, decided to relax disease controls from May 1, ending control (orange) zones in its revision of the colour-coded zoning during Friday’s meeting.

Only high surveillance (yellow) zones and tourism pilot (blue) zones will remain, starting from May 1.

There will be no more maximum and strict Covid-19 control (dark-red), maximum control (red) zones, surveillance (green) zones.**

**Thai News Agency contributed to this report

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TallGuyJohninBKK · April 23, 2022

Thailand on Saturday reported 129 new COVID deaths, tying the country’s year-high total for the third time this month, while serious condition COVID hospitalizations declined again to 1,962, as did official new cases, which fell to 20,052.

The 129 new COVID deaths reported Saturday tied the same totals that Thailand had last Thursday and Tuesday, and marked the 14^th consecutive day of 100-plus daily COVID deaths. But elsewhere, the news was more positive, with most major COVID statistics continuing their post Songkran holidays decline.

Serious hospitalizations at 1,962 marked their fifth consecutive daily decline, including falling from 1,985 on Friday. Official new cases at 20,052 dropped for a second consecutive day, down from Friday’s 21,808 total. And, total active COVID cases under care also fell from 190,780 Friday to 188,342 today.

In one negative sign, however, the share of serious COVID hospitalizations in the worst condition, those requiring intubation to breathe, rose from 913 on Friday to 921 today, but remained below the year's high tally of 940 from last Tuesday.

Even so, nowhere in Saturday's reported statistics was there any clear sign of the post-Songkran surge in new COVID infections and illnesses that the government's public health authorities have been preparing for and publicly warning about for weeks.

Although Thailand has a narrow definition of what constitutes an official COVID case, RT-PCR results are counted but positive ATK tests are not, even an uncounted cases surge would at some point begin to translate into increased hospitalizations and deaths -- which hasn't been happening yet, according to the government's reporting.

For context, during the peak of the Delta wave last fall, Thailand's daily COVID case count topped out at 23,418, but the numbers of serious hospital cases and the intubated share of those peaked above 5,600 and 1,100 respectively, and daily deaths topped 300 for a brief period.

https://www.facebook.com/informationcovid19/posts/547225156895813

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

flyingtlger · April 23, 2022

The numbers are getting better but we're far from getting normalized......

Bkk Brian · April 23, 2022

PCR test positive cases, total of 20,052 official new infections. 129 official covid deaths recorded.

Rapid tests positive cases, 19,936 bringing the total of PCR and ATK results to 39,988

https://ddc.moph.go.th/covid19-dashboard/

OWD rolling 7 day average, cases and deaths up to 21st April

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

TallGuyJohninBKK · April 23, 2022

Recap of the new rules for international arrivals effective May 1:

https://www.facebook.com/LiveNBT2HD/videos/2924449737853710/

https://aseannow.com/topic/1257529-thailand-further-eases-entry-restrictions-for-international-travellers/

anchadian · April 23, 2022

Phuket marks 149 new COVID cases, no deaths

PHUKET: The latest Phuket Provincial Public Health Office (PPHO) daily COVID situation report has marked 149 new local infections confirmed across the island yesterday (Apr 22), bringing the total number of infections recorded since Jan 1 to 51,612.

https://www.thephuketnews.com/phuket-marks-149-new-covid-cases-no-deaths-83904.php

anchadian · April 23, 2022

Two-thirds of Covid beds still empty post-Songkran but child cases up

“Currently 35.8 per cent of around 180,000 hospital beds for Covid-19 patients are being used,” department director-general Somsak Akkasilp said on Friday. Twenty-five per cent of available beds are occupied by pneumonia patients, he added.

https://www.nationthailand.com/in-focus/40014849

webfact · April 23, 2022

anchadian · April 23, 2022

Editoral: As Test and Go goes away, it’s time for our daily Covid-19 reporting to go as well

Therefore, effective May 1st, 2022, the same day Test and Go ends, we will cease the daily publishing of local and national Covid-19 statistics and reports. We will of course communicate any major Covid-19 developments or breaking news and may occasionally publish an update about the situation, but the daily reporting will cease. Thailand has decided to treat the virus as endemic by July (estimated) and we must do so as well in the media.

https://thepattayanews.com/2022/04/23/editoral-as-test-and-go-goes-away-its-time-for-our-daily-covid-19-reporting-to-go-as-well/

TallGuyJohninBKK · April 23, 2022

10 hours ago, anchadian said:

Editoral: As Test and Go goes away, it’s time for our daily Covid-19 reporting to go as well

Seems a very bizarre decision by what's supposed to be a news media organization.

Do they really think that sticking their heads in the sand and ignoring an issue (or substantially downplaying it) is somehow going to prevent people from continuing to get sick and in some cases die from COVID? Or that ceasing daily reporting will better remind people to take prudent health precautions?

Right now, Thailand's official daily COVID death toll is roughly double that of its official daily road fatalities tally. Are they going to cease reporting on fatal road collisions too, because those clearly are "endemic" to Thailand? No, I don't think so.

TallGuyJohninBKK · April 23, 2022

Update on efforts to develop a new vaccine version better tailored to Omicron and possible future variants:

From Johns Hopkins:

"Several companies, including Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, are developing variant-specific vaccines, but it is unclear how long testing and manufacturing of any newer vaccine versions might take.

Moderna this week released preprint data on a bivalent vaccine candidate, mRNA-1273.211, that contains equal mRNA amounts of spike proteins from the ancestral SARS-CoV-2 strain and the Beta variant and could be used as a booster dose. According to the data—which is not yet peer-reviewed—the vaccine produced stronger, longer-lasting antibody responses against SARS-CoV-2 variants, including Omicron, than the company’s original vaccine.

Results from a different Moderna bivalent vaccine candidate that uses mRNA from the original virus and Omicron are expected later this spring."

https://myemail.constantcontact.com/COVID-19-Updates---April-14--2022.html

TallGuyJohninBKK · April 23, 2022

News regarding Pfizer's Paxlovid treatment for COVID:

WHO backs Pfizer's Paxlovid for certain COVID patients but raises concerns on drug access, pricing

"The World Health Organization (WHO) recommended the use of Pfizer's (NYSE:PFE) antiviral pill Paxlovid to treat patients with mild and moderate COVID-19 who are at the highest risk of hospital admission.

The WHO suggested not to use the drug in patients at lower risk, as the benefits were found to be negligible, the agency said in an April 22 press release.

The WHO called the drug 'best therapeutic choice for high-risk patients to date' but noted that availability, lack of price transparency in bilateral deals made by the producer, and the need for prompt and accurate testing before administering it, are turning the therapy into a major challenge for low- and middle-income countries."

(more)

https://seekingalpha.com/news/3825662-who-backs-pfizers-paxlovid-in-high-risk-covid-patients-but-raises-concerns-on-drug-access-pricing

But...

Pfizer COVID-19 pill linked to reports of returning symptoms - Boston Globe

Boston Globe highlighted several cases where patients who took the Pfizer’s (NYSE:PFE) COVID-19 pill Paxlovid reported a rebound of symptoms despite testing negative for the virus after the initial infection.

...

In its documents submitted to the FDA seeking regulatory nod for Paxlovid, Pfizer (PFE) noted several cases where trial subjects were found to have a rebound in SARS-CoV-2 RNA levels around Day 10 or Day 14.”

...

Dr. Michael Charness, chief of staff at the VA Boston Healthcare System, ... concluded that some patients might require a longer course of therapy to develop a stronger immune defense.

https://seekingalpha.com/news/3825817-pfizer-covid-19-pill-linked-to-reports-of-returning-symptoms-boston-globe

TallGuyJohninBKK · April 23, 2022

A new study in the U.S. has credited the country's COVID vaccinations program thus far with preventing 2.2 million deaths, 17 million hospitalizations, 66 million COVID infections and $900 billion in health care expenses.

Study finds U.S. COVID-19 vaccinations averted 2.2 million deaths

(UPI) -- A new study published Friday found COVID-19 vaccinations have prevented 2.2 million deaths in the United States.

The Commonwealth Fund study said 17 million hospitalizations were averted by the vaccines between December 12, 2020, and March 31, 2022. More than $899 billion was saved in healthcare costs due to the vaccines, according to the Commonwealth Fund study.

The study found there would have been 66 million more COVID-19 infections without the vaccinations.

(more)

https://www.upi.com/Health_News/2022/04/08/COVID19-commonwelath-fund-study-vaccines-prevented-millions-of-deaths/1421649425164/

https://www.commonwealthfund.org/blog/2022/impact-us-covid-19-vaccination-efforts-march-update

"The Commonwealth Fund — among the first private foundations started by a woman philanthropist, Anna M. Harkness — was established in 1918 with the broad charge to enhance the common good.

Today, the mission of The Commonwealth Fund is to promote a high-performing health care system that achieves better access, improved quality, and greater efficiency, particularly for society’s most vulnerable, including low-income people, the uninsured, and people of color."

TallGuyJohninBKK · April 23, 2022

A new report by the CDC has found that COVID remained the third-leading cause of death in the U.S. for the second consecutive year in 2021, trailing only heart disease and cancer, according to provisional mortality data.

Provisional Mortality Data — United States, 2021

Early Release / April 22, 2022

"For a second year, COVID-19 was the third leading cause of death after heart disease and cancer."

...

In 2021, COVID-19 was listed as the underlying or contributing cause of 460,513 deaths (111.4 per 100,000), an increase from 384,536 deaths (93.2) in 2020 (Table).

...

COVID-19 was the underlying cause for approximately 90% (415,399), and a contributing cause of death for the remaining 10% (45,114) of COVID-19–associated deaths in 2021."

https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/71/wr/mm7117e1.htm

TallGuyJohninBKK · April 24, 2022

Thailand COVID Update for Sunday, April 24:

Newly reported COVID deaths on Sunday, new cases and serious COVID hospitalizations all declined from the prior day, according to today's update by the Ministry of Public Health.

New COVID deaths fell from a year-high 129 reported yesterday to 126 today. New cases fell from 20,052 yesterday to 17,784 today for a third consecutive daily decline.

Serious COVID hospitalizations declined from 1,962 yesterday to 1,929 today, the lowest tally of the past week, and the sixth consecutive daily decline.

Also, the share of serious condition COVID hospitalizations in the worst condition, those requiring intubation to breathe, fell from 921 yesterday to 899 today -- down from the year-high tally of 940 last Tuesday.

More broadly, the total number of official active COVID cases under care in the country also declined from 188,342 yesterday to 183,154 today, which also was its lowest figure of the past week.

Overall, Sunday's new daily COVID case count almost matched that from one week ago and the latest death count was only two less. But Sunday's latest hospitalization figures were both notably lower than those from one week ago.

However, Sunday still marked Thailand's 15th consecutive day with 100-plus new daily COVID deaths. And it's not uncommon for COVID statistics reported by the government to decline during weekend periods, as was the case today.

For context, during the peak of the Delta wave last fall, Thailand's daily COVID case count topped out at 23,418, but the numbers of serious hospital cases and the intubated share of those peaked above 5,600 and 1,100 respectively, and daily deaths topped 300 for a brief period.