The Public Health Ministry hopes to declare Covid-19 an endemic disease on July 1, claiming it can bring the coronavirus outbreak under control the same day it reported more than 72,000 new cases.
The total of new daily cases obliterated the record set Wednesday, when the ministry announced more than 51,000 cases found through a combination of RT-PCR and antigen tests. Daily deaths also hit a record for the coronavirus omicron-variant wave at 74 on Thursday.
Official, PCR test-confirmed cases reported today totaled 22,984, while 49,494 positive antigen tests results also were recorded. The test-positivity rate skyrocketed to a terrifying 49.1%, meaning nearly half of everyone taking a Covid-19 test is infected.
This week's numbers dispel a fleeting thought that a big one-day dip in cases and rise in deaths might indicate the peak of the omicron curve.
Ministry Permanent Secretary Kiattiphum Wongrajit claimed Thursday that cases would peak either this month or next and gradually decline from May to the end of June. If that happens, the National Communicable Diseases Committee will declare the coronavirus epidemic over and Covid-19 an endemic disease.
For that to happen, however, Kiattiphum said new daily cases would have to drop to 1,000-2,000 and the fatality rate to about 0.1%. Currently, the fatality rate is at 0.19% in Thailand and 1.3% worldwide, he said.
Tares Krassanairawiwong, director-general of the Department of Health Service Support, said that from March 16 moderate and serious Covid-19 cases would be covered by the Universal Coverage for Emergency Patients and thus could seek complete treatment at their local hospitals.
Green-coded, or mild, cases would receive treatment according to their health welfare programs including welfare by the National Health Security Office, the Social Security Office, the government sector and health insurance firms, he said.