Department head predicts Covid-19 could last up to another year. | He said that many factors will affect our future and the future of the Covid-19 pandemic within the borders of Thailand. If handled well, he believes that Covid-19 could be wrangled under control in about 3 months or possibly as little as 1 month. But, if improperly handled, or if more problems and obstacles surface along the way, the Covid-19 pandemic could stretch on for another year. The Thaiger



 



Department head predicts Covid-19 could last up to another year

By 

Neill Fronde

Saturday, July 24, 2021 03:34

Depending on the actions the government and the people of Thailand take, the Director-General of the Department of Medical Services predicts Covid-19 could continue for just a few months or drag on for another year. Director-General Somsak Ankasil asserted that declaration in a recorded video message this week made to thank the medical officials across the nation.

In it, he said that many factors will affect our future and the future of the Covid-19 pandemic within the borders of Thailand. If handled well, he believes that Covid-19 could be wrangled under control in about 3 months or possibly as little as 1 month. But, if improperly handled, or if more problems and obstacles surface along the way, the Covid-19 pandemic could stretch on for another year.

Somsak also called for unity and support in his message, saying that all people from all sectors need to come together to overcome the challenges of Covid-19 even after a year and a half of dealing with it. He mentioned the imperative need for the Thai government to be proactive in enacting policies that directly and effectively control the proliferation of Covid-19 infections, and to contain outbreaks, something the government has come under much criticism for recently as people lose confidence in leadership's ability to combat the virus.

The Director-General also emphasised the need for the residents of Thailand to be vigilant and committed to safety as the fatigue of an 18-month pandemic wears on. He called for continued mask-wearing, social distancing, and following all the requirements and restrictions for the safety of the general population. He acknowledged though that citizens that were once willing to band together and accept restrictions for the greater good had now lost their patience and had grown restless and frustrated.

He concluded his remarks with a renewed commitment on behalf of the 18,000 members of the Department of Medical Services to work together with the people of Thailand to get through the Covid-19 pandemic and to keep the Thai people's health and safety as their top priority no matter how long it takes.



Nakorn says not joining Covax wasn't a mistake. Nakorn Premsri, director of the National Vaccine Institute (NVI), has insisted that it was not a mistake for Thailand to skip joining the Covid-19 Vaccines Global Access (Covax) programme when it was first introduced. However, as the global Covid-19 vaccine situation has changed, Thailand will join the World Health Organization (WHO)-backed vaccine-sharing initiative. Bangkok Post

Nakorn says not joining Covax wasn't a mistake

Nakorn Premsri, director of the National Vaccine Institute

Nakorn Premsri, director of the National Vaccine Institute (NVI), has insisted that it was not a mistake for Thailand to skip joining the Covid-19 Vaccines Global Access (Covax) programme when it was first introduced.

However, as the global Covid-19 vaccine situation has changed, Thailand will join the World Health Organization (WHO)-backed vaccine-sharing initiative.

Dr Nakorn said there are two schemes under Covax -- one covering advance market commitments (AMC), which aims to secure vaccines for 92 low- and middle-income countries, and one for self-financing participant (SFP) countries.

Thailand is not an AMC country -- but instead an SFP country -- because it is an upper-middle-income country, he said.

Dr Nakorn said as of Thursday, a total of 136 million doses were delivered to 136 countries that joined the Covax programme. This means each country received just 1 million doses on average, he said.

"It is the reason why Thailand didn't [initially] join Covax. We had to pay for the vaccine ourselves, and we didn't know how we would get it," Dr Nakorn said. "We did not make a mistake by not joining [Covax]."

Dr Nakorn said the global vaccine situation has been changing as manufacturers have been able to deliver sufficient numbers of supplies to high-income countries that booked doses in advance.

There will be a suitable time for Thailand to participate in the sharing scheme, he said.

"It is not a flip-flop of policy because the vaccine supply situation has [improved]," Dr Nakorn said. "To join Covax at this time will risk Thailand's vaccine procurement next year."



🔴 #COVID19 Update on Saturday: 14,260 cases & 119 deaths / 19 July: 11,784 - 81 dead 20 July: 11,305 - 80 dead 21 July: 13,002 - 108 dead 22 July: 13,655 - 87 dead 23 July: 14,575 - 114 dead 24 July. Richard Barrow



 







Rising occupancy in hospitals. Bangkok Post

 

Bangkok Post highlights 24/7

 

Vaccinkaos i Thailand – ansvarig ber om ursäkt | Smittspridningen av covid-19 skenar i Thailand. Samtidigt har landets stått utanför FN:s vaccinprogram – och tillgången till vaccindoser för liten för att landet ska kunna bromsa spridningen av deltavarianten, enligt den thailändska journalisten Tong Tayamon. SVT Nyheter

Vaccinkaos i Thailand – ansvarig ber om ursäkt

Smittspridningen av covid-19 skenar i Thailand. Samtidigt har landets stått utanför FN:s vaccinprogram – och tillgången till vaccindoser för liten för att landet ska kunna bromsa spridningen av deltavarianten, enligt den thailändska journalisten Tong Tayamon.

Akvelina Smedidag 06:19

Demonstranterna som gett sig ut på Bangkoks gator har framför allt tre krav – hör Tong Tayamon, journalist i Thailand, berätta vilka kraven är. Foto: Reuters/SVT

Ett landsomfattade undantagstillstånd råder i Thailand. Under fredagen rapporterade landet 14 575 nya smittofall och 114 nya dödsfall med covid-19.

– Jag kan höra ambulanssirenerna när de kör omkring här i Bangkok, och regeringen har infört lockdown-åtgärder, säger den thailändska journalisten Tong Tayamon till SVT Nyheter.

Går med i Covax – men leveranser dröjer

Thailand har som enda sydostasiatiska land stått utanför det FN-stödda vaccinprogrammet Covax fram tills häromdagen, och har tillgång till begränsade mängder av de kinesiska vaccinen Sinovac och Sinopharm – samt AstraZeneca-vaccin som producerats på plats i Thailand.

– Alla våra grannländer har fått vacciner från Johnson & Johnson, Moderna och Pfizer/Biontech, men inte vi, säger Tong Tayamon.

I onsdags bad chefen för Thailands vaccininstitut om ursäkt för att landet misslyckats med att säkra tillräckligt stora mängder vaccin och berättade att de nu håller på att gå med i Covax-programmet. Förhoppningen är att Thailand ska kunna få vaccindoser genom Covax under första kvartalet 2022.

Ändrar vaccinstrategin

Thailand beslöt för två veckor sedan att ändra sin vaccinstrategi och ge Astra Zenecas vaccin som dos två till alla som fått Sinovac-vaccinet i dos ett. Detta efter att hundratals vårdanställda som är fullvaccinerade med Sinovac har smittats med covid-19.

– Sinovac har en ganska låg skyddseffekt, speciellt gentemot deltavarianten som nu sprids här, berättar Tong Tayamon.

Vårdpersonalen som har fått två doser Sinovac ska få en tredje boosterdos med antingen AstraZeneca eller ett mRNA-vaccin.

Demonstrationer mot landets styre

Samtidigt gror missnöjet mot landets hantering av situationen. Tusental demonstranter trotsade i söndags coronarestriktionerna för att samlas i Bangkok. Demonstrationen markerade ettårsdagen av protester med krav på bland annat premiärministerns avgång.

Förutom det ursprungliga kravet på att premiärminister Prayuth Chan-Ocha ska avgå, vill demonstranterna bland annat att den thailändska befolkningen ska få tillgång till bättre vacciner mot covid-19, och då främst mRNA-vacciner. 

Lite positiva tongångar i allt elände finner ni i de sista raderna i detta inlägg. Hur det sedan ska gå till är ju en annan historia. Trevlig helg på Er.



Vaccines used in ASEAN. NBT



Is Thailand's bid to join global vaccine-sharing initiative too little, too late? | Thailand is finally bidding to join the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) initiative after being hit by a critical shortage of effective vaccines at the height of its contagion crisis. Thai PBS World takes a closer look at the global vaccine initiative and ponders why Thailand is the only ASEAN nation not to join so far. Thai PBS World

Is Thailand's bid to join global vaccine-sharing initiative too little, too late?

views  511

Thailand is finally bidding to join the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) initiative after being hit by a critical shortage of effective vaccines at the height of its contagion crisis. Thai PBS World takes a closer look at the global vaccine initiative and ponders why Thailand is the only ASEAN nation not to join so far.

What is COVAX?

Directed by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations  (CEPI), and the World Health Organisation, COVAX is a worldwide initiative for equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines. Its goal is to provide enough doses for at least 20 per cent of each member country's population.

COVAX attracted immense interest soon after launching. As of July 22, it had delivered 136 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine to 136 countries. The aim of the initiative is both to procure the much-needed jabs and also ensure low-income countries like Laos have equal access.

ASEAN's keen participation

All ASEAN nations except Thailand have joined COVAX. Singapore, Brunei and Malaysia joined as self-financing participants, while Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, the Philippines, and Vietnam joined under the Advance Market Commitment mechanism.

The Thai government, however, firmly stuck by its original COVID-19 vaccination plan – embracing locally produced AstraZeneca jabs as its main choice.

During a parliamentary debate last month, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said his government had decided against joining COVAX because Thailand was not qualified for free vaccines. He said the cost of vaccines bought via COVAX would be more expensive than direct purchase. Also, COVAX would not allow Thailand to choose the brand of vaccines.

Critics including Progressive Movement leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit have been questioning the government's decision since January, but Thai authorities have maintained all along that their vaccination plan is solid.

Royally owned pharma company Siam Bioscience was last year licensed as the region's production hub for AstraZeneca to supply the vaccine to Thailand and eight other countries in the region.

Thailand's inoculation plan

Responding to a query from Thanathorn, Medical Sciences Department director-general Dr. Supakit Sirilak declared on January 19 that the government aimed to inoculate at least 50 percent of the Thai population this year.

Of the 50 percent, 20 percent would be vaccinated with AstraZeneca, 10 percent with other brands, and the remaining 20 percent possibly with jabs procured through COVAX.

"We are interested in COVAX, but the procurement of vaccines via the initiative is complicated," Supakit said in January.

National Vaccine Institute director Dr. Nakorn Premsri, who was present at the same press conference, explained that the country's capacity to store and administer vaccines was limited, meaning that all doses could not arrive at the same time.

At the time of the press conference, Thailand was suffering its second wave of COVID-19 infections, with just 12,594 cumulative cases, 70 deaths and 3,168 active cases.

What's happening now?

Those figures have been dwarfed by the fourth wave, which has generated record highs day after day. On Thursday (July 22), new confirmed cases stood at 13,655 and deaths at 87. Accumulated cases have soared to 453,132 with 3,697 fatalities and 137,058 patients currently being treated.

The infection rate is being driven up by the highly contagious Delta variant, which is raging through many parts of the country, especially Bangkok. A partial lockdown has been enforced and about 17.84 percent of the population have had their first shot, but the outbreak shows no sign of abating.

Public anger is growing, with many saying that the crisis could have been averted if the government had launched its mass vaccination program sooner. The scheme kicked off on June 7 but quickly hit problems, including shortages of vaccine and low efficacy against Delta of the brands available.

Apology at last

On Wednesday, Dr. Nakorn issued a public apology for his institute's failure "to procure enough doses for the Thai population".

He also expressed regret that the vaccines administered so far did not respond to the situation as expected.

The government is providing AstraZeneca and Sinovac shots for free, though the Chulabhorn Royal Academy has sourced Sinopharm jabs for those willing to pay. Sinovac and Sinopharm are manufactured in China, and none of the three jabs available has been developed using mRNA technology, which has proved to be more effective against variants like Delta.

"We are in the process of joining COVAX through our ongoing negotiations with Gavi," Nakorn said. "COVAX will help us procure our vaccine supplies next year."

The Disease Control Department also announced that 20 million doses of Pfizer's mRNA vaccine will be delivered in the last quarter of this year, though the contract was only signed earlier this month.

By Thai PBS World's General Desk

The China-Wuhan padlock model is not the answer to Thailand’s health crisis - Pattaya Mail

The China-Wuhan padlock model is not the answer to Thailand's health crisis

Pattaya MailJuly 23, 2021

In Wuhan China last year, food parcels were delivered by hand to locked-in residents.

Thailand's Department of Disease Control is not known for humorous remarks. So when its director this week warned that the Wuhan model – forcing people to remain in their homes 24/7 – could later be necessary in some Thai provinces, many of us blanched white.



There is no question that the Wuhan lockdown, best described as a padlockdown, was effective locally. On January 23, 2020, the Chinese authorities sent a message to all smartphones that nobody was allowed to enter or leave Wuhan, or its satellite cities. The population was ordered to stay at home unless an outside visit was approved by the "shequ," or communist neighborhood committees, which are a surviving legacy of the Mao Zedong era.

It should be noted that there is no equivalent in Thailand of street committees. In Pattaya, for example, there are 300 or so Thai volunteer police currently assisting in curfew enforcement at night, but thousands would be needed to enforce a street-by-street lockdown. It is also far from clear that the Thai population would endure the circling of condo blocks and estates with barbed-wire fences as happened in Wuhan. The Bangkok military-backed government may look authoritarian to its critics here, but they are beginners compared with Beijing.



In a stimulating article in the Bangkok Post, Chartchai Parasuk pointed out that the Wuhan 10 weeks lockdown resulted only in 0.174 percent cost to Chinese economic growth. But Bangkok and the surrounding provinces account for almost half of Thailand's total gross domestic product. If that kind of padlocking occurred in Thailand, expect to see bank closures, riots, more coup attempts, utter pandemonium in food stores and all the rest. And tourists? Forget about them for years to come.

A lonesome resident of Wuhan walks near the brightly-lit but locked down city of Wuhan in March 2020.

It is not fully clear that the Wuhan experiment, locally successful for sure, resulted in flattening the pandemic curve in the rest of China. Other measures might have been responsible for that reality, such as massively reduced international and domestic flights, a road travel ban and changing diagnostic and testing criteria. We will likely never know the details as the all-powerful Chinese authorities "strongly disapprove" of non-approved citizenry talking to the media. Say no more.




Thailand's future prospects now rest on how effectively the current rules are enforced and how quickly mass vaccination comes on stream. There is no point in banning booze gatherings by proclamation if groups continue to drink bottles of beer on certain beach areas of Pattaya after dark. No point either in dissuading people from local travel within a city or province if the road checkpoints are not staffed by day as well as by night. As the rascal Roman poet Catullus wrote, "Unenforced laws are a joy to behold." The virus, whatever your stance on vaccination or politicians, can be tackled only by acts and not by words. The unpopular lockdown is here. Let's get on with it.



Thai baht weakens for the 6th week running. Bangkok Jack

Thai baht weakens for the 6th week running

The baht closed at 32.90 to the US dollar on Thursday, sliding from 32.84 at the start of the day.

July 23, 2021

It's all about the money

Krungthai Bank market strategist Poon Panichpibool said foreign investors had decided to sell their assets in Thailand due to uncertainty caused by the Covid-19 situation in the country, and this would lead to a gradual weakening of the baht.

This, in turn, will lead to importers exchanging the Thai currency for dollars, or other foreign currencies.

Poon added that the both the dollar and pound would strengthen due to market players' concerns about the Covid-19 situation around the world, which had increased the demand for safe haven assets.

In addition, this strengthening is another factor in weakening the baht, he added.

Meanwhile the pound sterling has climbed again to 45.25, rising from Wednesday's 44.90.

Some analysts predict the British Pound is set to climb all the way back up to 50 baht by the year end.



IN A DISCONCERTING post Thammasat field hospital said that the Thai healthcare system has now collapsed to go by seriously ill patients not getting admitted for treatment despite calling several hospitals and then dying in their home and on the street, Amarin TV said this morning (July 23). Thai Newsroom

Thammasat field hospital: healthcare system has collapsed

July 23, 2021  Nina

IN A DISCONCERTING post Thammasat field hospital said that the Thai healthcare system has now collapsed to go by seriously ill patients not getting admitted for treatment despite calling several hospitals and then dying in their home and on the street, Amarin TV said this morning (July 23).

While this Facebook post was published yesterday when the daily Covid count was 13,655 cases and 87 deaths, it climbed higher this morning with the Public Health Ministry saying today's tally is 14,575 cases and 114 more deaths.

Of the new batch of cases, 13,503 were among the general public and 1,072 in prisons and detention centres.

This takes the cumulative confirmed total since the start of the pandemic to 467,707 and in the current wave that began in April 438,844.

The additional 114 fatalities raised the death toll to 3,811 while another 7,775 patients were cured with 143,744 still undergoing treatment.

The Thammasat field hospital's post added that yesterday was not a bright morning similar to the past few days where there have been record-breaking Covid tallies. 

Moreover seven more hospital personnel had got infected, a doctor, three nurses and three other staff members. This meant a number of ward staff would have to be quarantined and this may affect patients in the ward they are taking care of.

This field hospital also swab-tested 251 suspected cases yesterday morning and found that 37 had been infected. Yet they would have to queue up at the door for treatment behind 51 others still waiting from the previous day.

Not added in this total are requests to send critically ill patients for treatment here from other places and university personnel and students who had tested positive elsewhere and are requesting treatment here.

The Thammasat field hospital's post raised the question as to how one knows the hospital and healthcare systems are down? The answer is simple: if a seriously ill patient contacts many hospitals but is not admitted and if this happens to a large number of patients it means that our system is unable to support and care for those who are severely ill leading to their dying at home or on the road.

This occurred despite having requested help from various channels for a long time. This then is the condition of a hospital system that can no longer work with the healthcare system having in fact collapsed, the post said.

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