Thailand News - Corona - By Ola J. - Palmtree

The Thai Ministry of Public Health has once again upgraded the risk of COVID-19 infection to Level 4, the second highest level, across the country, as 90% of new infections are now by the Omicron variant.

The ministry previously raised the alert to Level 4 on January 6, before dropping it to Level 3 on January 20.

Deputy Public Health Permanent Secretary Dr. Thongchai Keeratihattayakorn said today (Monday) that it is anticipated that the infection rate will remain high for the next 1-2 weeks, as he urged the public to avoid crowded places, refrain from social gatherings, to work from home and to delay interprovincial travel.

Cases of the BA.2 sub variant of Omicron, which is about 1.4 times more transmissible than the BA.1 strain, has increased by 50% in Thailand. Both the strains are found in Thailand and are equally potent, according to the Disease Control Department.

Meanwhile, Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul has signed a ministerial announcement, effective from March 1, under which all Thais will still have access to medical care for COVID-19 infections, but the services provided will be in accordance with their respective entitlements.

There are currently various medical schemes for Thai people, such as the social security scheme for working people who have made contributions to the scheme from their salaries, the universal health scheme, previously known as the gold card, for the general public who are not covered by the social security scheme, and the medical scheme for state officials.

The public health minister explained that the ministry's basic guideline for the treatment of COVID-19 patients is that the treatments are commensurate with the level of sickness, which means asymptomatic and mild cases must be treated in home isolation as the first choice or in community isolation facilities.

For these patients in the capital, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration and the National Health Security Office (NHSO) will be responsible for taking care of them and both have been instructed to increase their hotline services for arranging for patients to enter home or community isolation.

Only severe cases will be admitted to general or field hospitals, to ease their workload in anticipation of an increase in cases, as the Omicron variant is spreading steadily.

Anutin also said that Universal Coverage for Emergency Patients (UCEP) remains in place for those who have other underlying diseases, adding that these patients are entitled to free medical services, including in hospitals, if their conditions are serious.

For the treatment of those infected with COVID-19, the Department of Thai Traditional and Complementary Medicine has procured about 10 million doses of the Fah Talai Jone herbal medicine for patients in home isolation.

Treatment of COVID-19 patients in accordance with their entitlements will help reduce the government's hefty medical bill because, over the past two years, almost every patient could be admitted to a hospital.

The Centre for COVID-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) will not impose any additional measures amid rising COVID-19 infections, but will strictly enforce the existing restrictions in the light of surging infections, mostly by the Omicron variant, CCSA Assistant Spokesperson Dr. Apisamai Srirangsan said today (Monday).

She said that they had taken into consideration all aspects of COVID-19, including the number of infections and the death toll, tourism, public concern about the prospect of yet another lockdown and livelihoods, before arriving at the decision not to introduce any additional restrictions and not to suspend the "Test and Go" program.

She also asked senior medical professionals not to make comments about the pandemic in a way which may cause public confusion or anxiety and to clearly state that any comments they do make are their personal opinions and not those of their organisations.

The "Test and Go" program resumed on February 1^st and Dr. Apisamai said that 3,495 (2.55%) of the 137,090 arrivals from abroad were found to be infected.

"Test and Go" tourists take RT-PCR tests upon arrival, positive results of which accounted for 46% of the infected among the arrivals. The second RT-PCR test, administered between the 4^th and 7^th day in Thailand accounted for 44.74% of the infections detected.

Such was the basis on which the Public Health Ministry decided not to suspend the "Test and Go" program again, despite the surge in domestic infections, while still maintaining the requirements of the program.

At a meeting last week, between the Ministry of Tourism and Sports and tourism associations, the tourism operators said they want certain requirements of the "Test and Go" program to be eased, such as the second RT-PCR test being replaced by the cheaper and faster, but sometimes less reliable, antigen test and the insurance coverage requirement being halved to US$25,000.