Thailand’s Covid-19 crisis steadies after spike in 1st week of 2022
Thailand’s Covid-19 situation has started to stabilise after the first two weeks of 2022, Public Health Ministry’s permanent secretary Dr Kiattiphum Wongrajit said on Sunday.
“In the first week, we saw a rising number of new infections due to the spread of Omicron, which is more highly transmissible than the Delta variant,” he said. “However, the number of new infections have started stabilising and heading downwards, while the number of patients with severe symptoms is also dropping.”
“After two weeks of 2022, we have recorded the lowest number of Covid-19 patients ever who require respirators,” he added.
“Though the trend is improving, Thailand still maintains alert level 4, which means all high-risk venues will be closed, people will have to refrain from travelling and participating in large gatherings to contain the spread of the virus,” Kiattiphum said. “People are also advised to get a Covid-19 booster shot and regularly undergo ATK tests.”
Kiattiphum added that if the situation continues improving, the ministry will urge the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) to ease some measures so people’s lives can return to normal as soon as possible.
Over the past 24 hours on Monday morning, 6,929 people tested positive for Covid-19, of whom 209 had come from overseas. The death toll rose by 13, while 5,255 patients were discharged from hospitals.
Since the pandemic began in 2020, Thailand has seen 2,331,414 Covid-19 cases, including 107,979 this year, with 2,227,266 complete recoveries so far. The accumulated death toll stands at 21,938, including 240 so far this year.
