Bangkok Making Preparations to Declare Covid-19 Endemic

[webfact]

 

by Krajangwit Johjit

    

BANGKOK (NNT) - The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) is making preparations to declare Covid-19 an endemic disease following the recent drop in daily infections and fatalities.

 

According to Dr. Kiattiphum Wongrajit, Permanent Secretary for the Public Health Ministry, the Covid-19 situation in Bangkok has improved significantly due to vaccination rollout and measures such as home isolation and outpatient programs. Most Bangkok residents are fully vaccinated, with around 60 percent having at least 1 booster dose. These figures suggested that Bangkok might be ready to shift its strategy to managing Covid-19 as an endemic disease.

 

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Dr. Kiattiphum stated that the Ministry of Public Health is currently working with BMA departments to gradually lift Covid-19 restrictions. The shift will prioritize management in high infection risk areas such as pubs, bars, public parks, and public transportation, allowing for a more gradual transition to endemic Covid management.

 

Before Songkran, authorities expressed concern that the number of infections would exceed 100,000 daily cases after the holidays. The number of cases, however, was lower than expected, with daily fatality cases decreasing in recent days.

 

-- © Copyright NNT 2022-05-06

 

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[ezzra]

Yes.. and get rid of those pesky face masks we have been wearing for years now and it will also help more tourists to come knowing they don't have to walk around with rags on tier face while holidaying...

[Wiggy]

How on Earth can public parks be “high risk”? Are they indoors?

[Jingthing]

The virus doesn't care if you call it late for dinner. 

[BangkokReady]

3 minutes ago, Wiggy said:

How on Earth can public parks be “high risk”? Are they indoors?

It seems that the authorities classify anywhere that people congregate in large numbers high-risk.  Being outdoors doesn't seem to come into it.

 

I've had Thais walking along with their masks down, outside, with me with my mask on, walking metres away from me, quickly pull their mask up when they see me.  It seems that it's a commonly held belief that being outdoors makes no difference (along with all foreigners having covid).  An unfortunate reflection on the attitude towards covid in Thailand.

[buick]

24 minutes ago, webfact said:

Most Bangkok residents are fully vaccinated, with around 60 percent having at least 1 booster dose.

as i said in a previous thread, why not add in those people that are fully vaccinated (2 vax) and had a covid infection.  alot of the people i know had two vax plus an infection.  that would seem to provide about the same protection as two vax plus a booster.

 

i know two people that had two astra and got both delta and omicron.  i also know people that got two pfizer plus a moderna booster plus omicron.  but no one went to the hospital.

[Jingthing]

1 minute ago, AwwYesNice1 said:

Nor does it kill healthy vaccinated people.

 

Not getting your point.

They could still get the vax levels up here, especially with the eldery.

Less than healthy people's lives have value too. 

[vandeventer]

3 hours ago, ezzra said:

Yes.. and get rid of those pesky face masks we have been wearing for years now and it will also help more tourists to come knowing they don't have to walk around with rags on tier face while holidaying...

You might want to leave the mask on a little longer with burn off season coming soon..

[Almer]

3 hours ago, AwwYesNice1 said:

Nor does it kill healthy vaccinated people.

 

I agree, but it makes you feel rotten for 10 days, i speak  from experience 

[tandor]

...Forgive them Buddha, for they know not what they speak.

[hotchilli]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) is making preparations to declare Covid-19 an endemic disease following the recent drop in daily infections and fatalities.

I like it when a plan comes together...

I see more people around me infected now than at the peak of the Delta variant.

Yet I'm being told the numbers are falling dramatically and it's all over?

 

[hotchilli]

4 hours ago, ezzra said:

Yes.. and get rid of those pesky face masks we have been wearing for years now and it will also help more tourists to come knowing they don't have to walk around with rags on tier face while holidaying...

It's a free world and we can all make educated choices.. 

Mine is to keep the mask on so I don't fill-up my lungs daily with airborne pollution...

But hey, you do as you please with your organs.

[thailand49]

Yes good news?  is it coming June 1st?

 

Just open back up with no zero restrictions in return so we can start to reference Thailand again as the " land of smiles "  even if I have to wear the mask which prevents seeing my smile it is nothing after two years like they say life is give and take and taking is me having the mask off as soon as I enter that GoGo, you know what happens after that!????

[swm59nj]

Don’t worry the night life and bars will probably get back to normal soon.  So most people have something to occupy their time with.

Looking back at the posts about Covid over the time period.   Most of them dwelled about the bars being open or not. 
 

Edited May 6, 2022 by swm59nj

[Bangkok Barry]

4 hours ago, Jingthing said:

Not getting your point.

They could still get the vax levels up here, especially with the eldery.

Less than healthy people's lives have value too. 

Most of the highly vulnerable have already died or been in ICU during the past two years. If the virus didn't get them then it is highly unlikely to now, especially as it has morphed into what in my native UK would be a normal winter cold or flu. It is so mild now that very few are even reporting it, evidenced to me by many relatives here who have tested positive and just stayed home for a few days. I'd say that most of my wife's extended family have had it and not one has had any problem dealing with it.

[terryofcrete]

4 hours ago, AwwYesNice1 said:

Nor does it kill healthy vaccinated people.

 

3 shots of Pfizer but I still got covid ... in Thailand ... and was not hanging out with Farangs ... only Thais...

[Dogmatix]

Since endemic means it's permanently in the population and can't be got rid off, how is that better than a pandemic which is global epidemic that comes to an end.

[Don Chance]

I think they have been fluffing the numbers for weeks because they didn't want people to let their guard down. But they have been according to this:

https://covid19.healthdata.org/thailand?view=infections-testing&tab=trend&test=infections

[Iamfalang]

After almost six years, there's always something.    

 

It will be nice to not wear a mask, and it's amazing how different people look without their mask.

 

I wonder if we can go just ONE year without something big happening.   hasn't happened yet.

 

just let me live on Soi 666 with 100 girls from Laos and 10,000 from Thailand and play your music super loud until 5 am.    am I asking too much?

[ChrisKC]

24 minutes ago, Iamfalang said:

After almost six years, there's always something.    

 

It will be nice to not wear a mask, and it's amazing how different people look without their mask.

 

I wonder if we can go just ONE year without something big happening.   hasn't happened yet.

 

just let me live on Soi 666 with 100 girls from Laos and 10,000 from Thailand and play your music super loud until 5 am.    am I asking too much?

No, it isn't too much to ask. Two years is a lot to catch up on.  But an adjustment for me, two Lao girls, soft music and two years would pass in five minutes!

[Shocked farang]

3 hours ago, Dogmatix said:

Since endemic means it's permanently in the population and can't be got rid off, how is that better than a pandemic which is global epidemic that comes to an end.

Nobody said that it's better, the diference is that when it's endemic, the measures to deal with it are more relaxed, even if some contaminated people slip through customs, it doesn't matter much as it's already endemic in the population, got it? 

[charmonman]

2 hours ago, Shocked farang said:

Nobody said that it's better, the diference is that when it's endemic, the measures to deal with it are more relaxed, even if some contaminated people slip through customs, it doesn't matter much as it's already endemic in the population, got it? 

I think a lot of people have misconstrued the word endemic to mean less prevalent or less virulent rather than the more correct definition you’ve given.

[AwwYesNice1]

15 hours ago, Almer said:

I agree, but it makes you feel rotten for 10 days, i speak  from experience 

 

Mine was about 5 days - 3x vaccinated 

[ftpjtm]

22 hours ago, webfact said:

following the recent drop in daily infections

Over the Songkran holidays we had more than a dozen Thai relatives pass our way as they traveled the country. At some point over the course of 3 weeks pretty much every one of them failed an ATK test (my wife bought a few dozen on Lazada). The first diligently reported it, and was locked in quarantine for 10 days in spite of pleas to be released to home confinement, having nothing worse than a running nose.

 

No one else bothered reporting their mild symptoms. 

[paulikens]

yada yada yada

[FunkyDunky58]

Visited Bangkok a few days back. Went on a river cruise. It was packed. The streets were packed. Apart from mask wearing there is no significant evidence that there is a pandemic. Looks a lot like life as usual.

[Almer]

On 5/7/2022 at 6:50 AM, AwwYesNice1 said:

 

Mine was about 5 days - 3x vaccinated 

3 Pfiser and a good 10 days felt rotten, nothing like my previous man  flue !!