söndag 20 februari 2022

Chonburi announces 828 new and confirmed cases of Covid-19 and no new deaths - The Pattaya News

Chonburi announces 828 new and confirmed cases of Covid-19 and no new deaths

Sunday, 20 February 2022, 20:19

Highlights:

828 new confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Chonburi today
797 positive ATK tests were reported but all require a second confirmed PCR test before being counted as official cases. The ATK positive tests are just "possible" cases until confirmed by PCR.
752 people recovered and were released from medical care
No new deaths

The Chonburi Department of Public Health announced 828 new and confirmed cases of Covid-19 today with one new death, February 20th, 2022.

This makes a total of 30,309 cases of Covid-19 in the current round of infections, with 7,753 people still under medical care/supervision, and with a total of 39 recorded deaths in Chonburi since the start of this recent round of infections at the beginning of this year, January 2022.

Additionally, 752 people were also released and recovered yesterday in Chonburi. 22,517 people in total have now been released from medical care and recovered in Chonburi since this current wave of Covid-19 began at the beginning of this year, January 2022.

Two people were listed as being in serious condition in Chonburi currently, either on a ventilator or pneumonia. They both had reportedly received three doses of a Covid-19 vaccine. According to the Chonburi Department of Public Health, the vast majority of recent cases are mild or asymptomatic.

In total, 1,971,857 people in Pattaya and Chonburi have received their first dose of a Covid -19 vaccine which is 84.66 percent of the total Chonburi population. Of those, 303,591 have received their first dose and are what the Thai government calls 608 groups (elders, have chronic health problems, and pregnant) which is 82.07 percent of those in these risk groups in Chonburi.

750,349 people have received their triple dose which is 32.22 percent of the total Chonburi population. Of those, 128,536 are 608 groups which is 34.75 percent of those in these risk groups in Chonburi.

The district-level new cases were as follows today:

Mueang Chonburi 172, Si Racha 252, Banglamung (Pattaya) 197, Panat Nikhom 32, Sattahip 17, Ban Bueng 18, Phan Thong 62, Bor Thong 4, and 74 people transferred from other provinces for medical care.

No photo description available.

The details on the cases are as follows:

Work and stayed in Rayong, transferred from other provinces for medical care, 69 cases
Cluster, Fujitsu General (Thailand) company in Si Racha, 4 cases
Cluster, Essilor Optical Laboratory company in Phan Thong, 3 cases
Risky occupations meeting many people, 32 cases
11 medical personnel
10 back from other provinces from Chachoengsao (4), Bangkok (2), Nonthaburi (1), Prachuap Khiri Khan (1), Phichit (1), and Phetchabun (1)
Close contacts from previously confirmed cases in families – 198 cases, in workplaces –110 cases, close personal contacts – 90 cases, and joined a party – 7 cases
Close contacts of a confirmed patient (under investigation), 15 cases
279 cases close contacts of a confirmed patient (under investigation)

Thai virologist Dr. Yong predicts daily COVID-19 infections may reach 100,000 | Respected virologist Dr. Yong Poovorawan said today (Sunday) that COVID-19 Omicron variant infections are on the steady rise across Thailand, averaging 25,000 cases a day and the number may surge to 100,000 cases a day in the future. Thai PBS World

Thai virologist Dr. Yong predicts daily COVID-19 infections may reach 100,000

Respected virologist Dr. Yong Poovorawan said today (Sunday) that COVID-19 Omicron variant infections are on the steady rise across Thailand, averaging 25,000 cases a day and the number may surge to 100,000 cases a day in the future.

Judging by the rapid transmissibility of the BA.2 sub variant of the Omicron variant reported in Singapore, where daily infections average about 15,000 in a population one tenth the size of Thailand's, Japan's or South Korea's, he said that Thailand may soon fall into the same pattern.

Dr. Yong, head of the Centre of Excellence in Clinical Virology at the Faculty of Medicine of Chulalongkorn University, pointed out that the current rate of infection is ten times that of the four previous waves in the country.

"We saw a two-digit daily infection rate in the first wave, a three-digit rate in the second wave, a four-digit rate in the third wave and a five-digit daily infection rate in the fourth wave, which was dominated by the Delta variant," he said, adding that "now, we are in the 5th wave and I am not sure whether infections will surge to six digits but I don't want to see such figures."

He noted, however, that it must be accepted that infections must reach their peak, before they start to stabilise and fall, as they did in Europe and America.

With the likelihood that daily COVID-19 infections will continue to rise, Dr. Yong said that the most logical thing for everyone to do is to reduce their risk of infection. Those who test positive should isolate at home or in community facilities and get their infection confirmed by a RT-PCR test.

Suppose 100,000 take RT-PCR tests a day, which cost an average of 1,000 baht each, the cost for one day would be about 100 million baht, he said, adding that it is impossible for all of the infected, in that scenario, to be admitted to hospitals.

If the speed of the quick-fire announcements over the past few days of the government “considering” easing the requirements for tourists to enter the country is any indication, anyone dependent on tourism for income might have good reason to be optimistic about the near future. The only thing our national leaders have to figure out is how fast they can roll back the entry measures without looking stupid for keeping them in effect so long already. Phuket News

Phuket Opinion: Has the countdown to reopening already started?

PHUKET: If the speed of the quick-fire announcements over the past few days of the government "considering" easing the requirements for tourists to enter the country is any indication, anyone dependent on tourism for income might have good reason to be optimistic about the near future. The only thing our national leaders have to figure out is how fast they can roll back the entry measures without looking stupid for keeping them in effect so long already.

Minister of Tourism and Sports Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn has already gone public to distance himself from the current measures, saying that he and the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) will be calling for easing at least one measure as quickly as the current bureaucracy can handle, likely two weeks.

Mr Phiphat on Friday said that the his ministry and the TAT will propose that the second mandatory RT-PCR test be rolled back to an antigen test kit, as it was before the current regime of entry requirements were brought into effect to counter the Omicron variant being brought into the country, at a time when the generally mild severity of Omicron infections was already widely reported in other countries, namely the UK.

The request will be made at the next CCSA meeting on Wednesday (Feb 23). If approved, the new rule will be applied from next month, Mr Phiphat said.

"The plan to eliminate all RT-PCR testing upon arrival will be made once the country officially declares COVID-19 an endemic disease," he added.

Meanwhile, much-loved Deputy Prime Minister and Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul has been doing what he does best, by continuing to tell everyone that they "need to learn to live with COVID-19" and that restrictions needed to stay in effect, while saying that restrictions may be eased soon – a slight contradiction, to say the least.

"After the Omicron infections reach their peak and case numbers drop, with more international travellers [unexplained where from], Thailand will devise measures to suit the changing global situation. We will find a balance between public health safety and pursuing economic recovery," he told a Bangkok Post economic forum on Thursday.

What both Mr Phiphat and Mr Anutin have in common is that their declarations of intent have come hot on the heels of leading tourism figures in the country pointing out that the current entry requirements for tourists are already outdated.

The open letter sent this week to PM Prayut, and of course copied to Deputy PM Anutin, plainly pointed out that the current entry requirements are not even supported by the government's own data on the number and severity of infections.

Tourists are more likely to contract Omicron after landing in Thailand, and even then the severity of infection is expected to be low. All international arrivals who have tested positive on Day 5 of their stay have been 'Green' patients, said the letter, initiated by Marisa Sukosol Nunbhakdi, President of the Thai Hotels Association.

Ms Marisa is not alone with her understanding of the situation. The letter was signed by Bhummikitti Ruktaengam, President of the Phuket Tourist Association; Thanet Tantipiriyakit Chairman of the Phuket Tourism Council; and Kongsak Khoopongsakorn, President of the Thai Hotels Association Southern Chapter, based in Phuket. Bill Heinecke of the Minor Group has openly given the same opinion of the current situation.

The CCSA has been caught out. Either they are lying about their own figures, or they are ignoring their own figures. The sick joke is that they will not admit to either.

The recommendations set out by the consortium of tourism leaders, now supported by the Tourism Minister himself, to start easing measures immediately have sounded the alarm for the CCSA.

Ms Marisa's point that Thailand is already falling behind other competitor tourism destinations in the region is not a prediction or conjecture; it is already happening. Any further delay in easing entry measures only does more harm.

Also as Ms Marisa has pointed pointed out, before COVID-19 when tourists had a choice of when to travel, they came to Thailand in numbers only up until the end of April; that is "the end of the curve".

If Thailand is to gain any real benefit from easing restrictions – including ditching the Thailand Pass permit, as suggested in the letter to PM Prayut – it will have be soon.

Thai tourism industry demands Covid restrictions to be lifted, PM urges caution - Thai government getting pressure from both directions. | Thaiger

Thai tourism industry demands Covid restrictions to be lifted, PM urges caution

Tim Newton

Sunday, February 20, 2022 08:50

The Thai Prayut Chan-o-cha is calling on all 77 provincial governments to do everything they can to reduce the spread of the latest Covid surge in Thailand. There has been more than 18,000 new infections over the past 2 days. Today, Thailand logged 18,953 official new cases with numerous additional un-official cases which have been registered from ATK tests.

The PM says governors will… "need to speed up campaigns deterring the spread of Covid-19 by cooperating with all sectors".

He's also asking everyone in Thailand to continue complying with the country'sCovid-19 preventive measures and "closely monitor any outbreaks".

As the number of new infections rack up, mostly fuelled by the Omicron variant, the conundrum for the government becomes more acute – wanting to project an image of Thailand as a safe place to travel, trying to reduce the sheer number of cases and additional hospitalisations, and coping with the increasingly louder demands from the tourism and hospitality sector to reduce restrictions and paperwork for travellers ASAP.

Thai tourism industry demands Covid restrictions to be lifted, PM urges caution | News by Thaiger Meanwhile Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul says the country has sufficient medication and hospital beds for any symptomatic Covid infections, reserving beds for patients with moderate or severe symptoms.

"New measures may be implemented in the future to contain the virus, but the administration of third and fourth doses of vaccines must be expedited."

Director-general of the Medical Services Department Somsak Akksilp said that the number of Covid patients needing hospitalisation had almost doubled from 33,286 to 64,900 people from January 16 to February 16.

"Many patients have increasingly been found to be in need of ventilators."

Yesterday Bangkok reported the highest number of new infections at 3,458, then 957 in Samut Prakan, 811 in Chon Buri, Nonthaburi with 596 cases and 534 in Phuket. Yesterday 168 of the country's new infections were detected in overseas arrivals, the highest amount from Russian passengers.

Whilst Thailand wrangles with the surging Omicron wave, albeit with fewer hospitalisations than last year's surge, between July and September when the daily infection numbers peaked at 23,418, the tourism industry is calling for immediate and almost total removal of the current arrival procedures, expensive PCR tests and enforced, pre-paid, stays at SHA+ hotels.

The Minister for Tourism and Sports Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn has taken a slightly less strident tone, saying on Friday that the second PCR test required by the Test & Go scheme should be scrapped by March. Meanwhile the Tourism Authority of Thailand is proposing a relaxation of entry requirements by replacing the controversial and unpopular, second PCR test on Day 5 with a rapid antigen test.

Those proposals will be discussed at the next CCSA meeting this Wednesday, February 23.

The Thailand Pass remains the main talking point for potential travellers, especially the additional 5th day of PCR tests and accommodation in a registered SHA+ hotel, that was added when the Test & Go program was re-introduced on February 1 this year.

Meanwhile, around the world, global Covid numbers show that the so-called Omicron wave, where the majority of new infections are from the Omicron variant, displacing the past Delta variant, is now dissipating. In the first three Covid waves, the daily global number peaked around 800,000 – 900,000 infections. The Omicron wave peaked at 3,796,800 infections on January 21, 2022.

But the death rate has been much lower. That, too, is now starting to wane as many country's continue to open up and remove many of the past restrictions. Deaths from Covid 19, since January 2020, have now reached 5,900,232 people. The worldometers.info graphs below represent the current global situation…

Thai tourism industry demands Covid restrictions to be lifted, PM urges caution | News by Thaiger

GRAPHS: worldometers.info

🔴 #COVID19 update on Sunday ⏫ 18,953 new cases ⬆️ 30 deaths ⬆️ 162,460 in care. Richard Barrow

lördag 19 februari 2022

A preview of what the next week in Thailand news brings: Thailand’s restrictions to likely be reviewed, Pattaya bar owners continue push for legal opening. Pattaya News

The following is our weekly feature in which we take a look at the top developing stories and things to follow over the next week. We are focusing on what is happening for the fourth week of February 2022, ending February 26th, 2022.

Saturday, 19 February 2022, 15:08

Thailand-

As we publish dozens of stories a week, this allows our readers to get a quick glimpse of the most important stories taking place in Thailand and Pattaya and to monitor and follow for the week ahead, as chosen by our editorial team. Let's get right into it with the biggest news of the week and what important stories to follow and look for this week that are likely to see further developments:

1. Center for Covid-19 Situation Administration set to meet to discuss Covid-19 restrictions, especially around international travel

This will be the biggest news of the week, at least in advance, based on social media interest. Thailand is facing increasing pressure from multiple angles, such as the tourism, hotel, hospitality, entertainment, retail, restaurant, and other sectors to lift or ease current Test and Go and Thailand Pass restrictions, especially a nearly unanimously unpopular day 5 Covid-19 test which requires one to stay at a hotel and wait for results. The CCSA is likely to start meeting about these proposals around Wednesday, February 23rd, of next week, with final decisions possibly as late as Friday to set a path forward for March. There is no guarantee any changes will be made, TPN notes, but the rising pressure to restore tourism to as close to "normal" as possible increases daily. You can read more about our thoughts on this and an analysis of the situation below:

Editorial/Analysis: As pressure rises from multiple sectors to ease or lift Covid-19 restrictions, what will be the Thai Government's response?

2. Pattaya entertainment and bar owners push for full legal opening

Hot on the heels of dozens of business sectors and associations calling for easing of tourism and travel restrictions for international visitors, Pattaya's business leaders are calling for the easing of a now almost 11-month long "ban" on bars, nightlife, pubs, and entertainment venues and a full legal opening. TPN notes that these venues have been permitted, through various certifications and temporary licenses, to become converted "restaurants" in the meantime, but this still requires many rules and conditions to be followed, such as early closing times of legally 11:00 P.M., no dancing, no karaoke, no pool at some venues, and other rules designed to make the venues appear more like "restaurants" than bars. Of course, the reality on the ground may be a bit different but all venue owners want to return to being legal bars, clubs, and similar venues. On a near-daily business the "One Voice" group, composed of several dozen business and tourism association heavyweights in Chonburi, have been working with the Thailand Tourism Authority and relevant agencies and government officials to legally reopen the shuttered industry. Importantly, the closure order technically comes from the Center for Covid-19 Situation Administration, or CCSA, and not local authorities, and will need clearance from them in order to truly legally open and restore nightlife in Pattaya until the early hours of the morning. We may see some results as early as next week, say One Voice leaders. You can read more below.

Pattaya tourism and business associations host large meeting, pushing again for full legal opening of all business sectors, including nightlife and entertainment, in Pattaya

Those are the main things to look for next week. Stay safe and see you soon!

Stealth variant’ BA.2 rising fast in Thailand, lab tests show it blocks vaccines. Also known as the “stealth variant” because it can evade detection in PCR tests, the BA.2 subvariant now accounts for about 18.5 per cent of new Covid-19 infections in Thailand, according to the Public Health Ministry. The Nation

Infections with the BA.2 subvariant of Omicron are rising fast in Thailand, leading virologist Yong Poovorawan said in a Facebook post on Saturday.

While the BA.1 subvariant was still behind most new infections in Bangkok, BA.2 cases are catching up, Yong said.

Also known as the "stealth variant" because it can evade detection in PCR tests, the BA.2 subvariant now accounts for about 18.5 per cent of new Covid-19 infections in Thailand, according to the Public Health Ministry.

Yong said that while BA.2 does not cause more severe symptoms than BA.1, it spreads faster and will eventually cause more infections.

Meanwhile, recent lab experiments in Japan show BA.2 also blunts immunity created by vaccines. However, a booster shot cuts the chances of illness after BA.2 infection by about 74 per cent.

On Friday, Thailand logged 18,885 new Covid-19 infections over the previous 24 hours, 224 of whom have arrived in Thailand from abroad. The death toll increased by 29, while 10,946 patients recovered and left hospitals

Thailand News - Corona - By Ola J. - Palmtree

söndag 20 februari 2022

Chonburi announces 828 new and confirmed cases of Covid-19 and no new deaths - The Pattaya News

Highlights:

828 new confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Chonburi today

797 positive ATK tests were reported but all require a second confirmed PCR test before being counted as official cases. The ATK positive tests are just "possible" cases until confirmed by PCR.

752 people recovered and were released from medical care

No new deaths