BREAKING! COVID-19 Cases At Alarming Levels In Thailand! 1672 New Weekly COVID-19 Hospitalizations, 148 On Ventilators, 390 In ICU, 9 Deaths!
Thailand Medical : The COVID-19 levels in Thailand are reaching alarming levels and while health and government authorities did nothing to warn the general population before the Songkran holidays of the possible COVID-19 threat especially with the emergence of new SARS-CoV-2 JN.1 variants such as the KP sub-lineages including KP.1, KP.1.1, KP.1.1.1, KP.2, KP.2.2 and KP.3 alongside other variants such KQ.1, KR.1 and KS.1 which are all more immune-evasive and transmissible, they are now merely blaming activities during the Songkran festivities as being behind the new worrisome surge.
https://www.thailandmedical.news/news/study-identifies-virological-characteristics-of-the-sars-cov-2-kp-2-variant-one-of-the-variants-behind-spring-s-silent-covid-19-surge
COVID-19 Cases At Alarming Levels In Thailand
(Pic-Past Stock Shots)
To make matter worse, many local Thais and expats residing in the country are oblivious of the rise in COVID-19 infections and are no longer masking nor taking any safety precautions.
Alarming COVID-19 Figures For The Week 21st-27th April 2024.
Data released by the Department of Disease Control of Thailand’s Ministry of Public Health shows that there were 1672 new COVID-19 hospitalizations reported for the week 21st to 27th of April 2024. A total of 390 new cases for that week are in ICUs due to the presence of severe pneumonia and another 148 new patients have been placed on mechanical ventilation for that week.
9 new deaths were reported for that week but the local authorities stopped short of releasing data of excess deaths for the last 4 months!
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Data shows that the elderly and those with existing comorbidities are more susceptible to disease severity in this new surge.
As usual, testing rates and COVID-19 positivity test rates were not divulged by the local Thai authorities. There are speculations that the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus among the local population could be phenomenal.
Threats Of Long COVID And Other Serious Medical Issues Expected
Thailand Medical experts warn that many could be susceptible to Long COVID issues even if they were asymptomatic or only had mild symptoms and worse, the new SARS-CoV-2 variant are more better adapted for viral persistence and could cause more issues such as organ failures especially that of the heart, liver and kidneys, gastrointestinal issues, neurological issues
especially strokes, blood clots issues, sepsis, various kinds of ischemia and also neurodegenerative issues and also cancers emergence and progression. It is expected that Thailand will be faced with the burden of such medical incidences rising at exponential levels in coming weeks and months.
COVID-19 Hospital Beds Starting To Face A Crisis
It should be noted that public hospitals are facing a huge strain as the recovery rate seems to be slow and there is accumulation of cases from previous weeks, hence COVID-19 hospital beds are starting to become scarce due to low rates of beds being released for newer cases.
In the previous week there were 1,004 new COVID-19 hospitalizations and the week prior to that there were 849 COVID-19 Hospitalizations and 774 hospitalizations the week prior.
https://www.thailandmedical.news/news/thailand-medical-authorities-announce-covid-19-surge-with-1004-new-hospitalizations-in-last-7-days-292-in-icu-and-101-needing-intubation
https://www.thailandmedical.news/news/thailand-medical-experts-warn-covid-19-cases-are-silently-rising-at-worrisome-rates-849-covid-19-hospitalizations-and-4-deaths-in-last-7-days
https://www.thailandmedical.news/news/thailand-medical-authorities-report-rising-covid-19-hospitalizations-774-new-hospitalizations-in-last-7-days-possibly-driven-by-new-kq-and-kp-variants
It should be noted that the official figures are not really reliable and that actual COVID-19 hospitalizations could actually be many times higher.
Already many private hospitals are indicating that COVID-19 admissions are increasing at rates they saw during the Delta surge and outpatient visits are at an all-time high.
Inadequate Government Response
Although the country’s Prime Minister yesterday highlighted his concerns about the increase in COVID-19 cases and also asked local to start masking again and to take preventive measures, local health authorities did not announce any proactive preventive measures or strategies to stop the surge.
There are also complains of laxed health screenings at airports and it is believed that many tourists are bringing in the new strains of SARS-CoV-2 viruses especially those arriving from countries in Europe especially the United Kingdom and Netherlands, travelers from Canada, India, China, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and Africa.
Conclusions
The COVID-19 surge in Thailand is expected to continue to rise and we can also expect to see more added stress on the healthcare sector with doctors, nurses and hospitals bearing the brunt. We can also expect to see the excess deaths rates rise sharply in the next few weeks and months.
For the latest on the COVID-19 situation in Thailand, keep on logging to
Thailand Medical News.
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