Thailand on Track to Declare COVID-19 Endemic

[webfact]

 

by Natthaphon Sangpolsit

    

BANGKOK (NNT) - The Thai government is on track to declare COVID-19 an endemic disease. Deputy Public Health Minister Satit Pitutacha said the nation is capable of achieving such a goal, despite concerns over new variants expressed by the World Health Organization (WHO).

 

At the annual meeting of the Private Hospital Association, the deputy health minister said the numbers of COVID infections and deaths are now stable, as the Omicron variant causes less severe symptoms than other strains.

 

The WHO has yet to designate COVID-19 as endemic due to concerns over new variants. Satit noted, however, that capable countries can make such decisions when they are ready, especially Thailand which has been praised as a role model for COVID control.

 

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Thailand aims to declare COVID-19 endemic in July.

 

Satit added that the persisting issue for Thailand at the moment is the handling of home-use test kits, which should be disposed of more properly.

 

-- © Copyright NNT 2022-05-09

 

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[TooMuchTime]

What does endemic mean for Thailand?

 

Back to 2019 rules for Thai citizens?

[RandiRona]

52 minutes ago, webfact said:

Thailand aims to declare COVID-19 endemic in July.

Good luck with that.....There is no prize to be no 1 I guess....oh wait...never mind!

[vandeventer]

2 hours ago, TooMuchTime said:

What does endemic mean for Thailand?

 

Back to 2019 rules for Thai citizens?

It doesn't look better in some parts of the world. Once they take off the mask it's so hard to get them to put it back on.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/coronavirus-wave-this-fall-and-winter-could-potentially-infect-100-million-americans-white-house-warns-1.5893245

[wombat]

The daily dose of optimism starts again.

If it's said enough times one time it will be.

[hotchilli]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

The Thai government is on track to declare COVID-19 an endemic disease

Which gauge track is that?

[Promsak]

They'd have to massage the daily figure first -- oh, hang on................

[Stargeezr]

Meanwhile the lockdowns in China continue. Is that because the original

COVID variant was reported from there, and still likely exists

in small pockets around the country. How about the origin areas of the

other variants of COVID, is that variant still in existence?

[Senior Player]

On 5/9/2022 at 6:04 PM, Stargeezr said:

Meanwhile the lockdowns in China continue. Is that because the original

COVID variant was reported from there, and still likely exists

in small pockets around the country. How about the origin areas of the

other variants of COVID, is that variant still in existence?

The original went the way of the dinosaurs over a year ago, at least in humans, according to Dr. George Rutherford, professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at UC San Francisco. It's been displaced. Elbowed out of the way by the newer, more competitive strains which we've seen since, starting with Alpha, Beta, Delta and now Omicron.

 

The subvariant causing problems in China is the Omicron variant, not the original virus from 2019/20. The reason that China is going for another lockdown is due to their strict Zero-Covid policy. And now Xi Jinping is acting like King Canute.

 

It's great that Thailand is on track to soon declare Covid endemic, but what are they going to do with this new status? Are they still going to continue with their red-tape and make entry into Thailand still problematic, or will they learn to live with it like many countries in the West are doing and reopen properly?

Edited May 10, 2022 by Senior Player