Omicron’s ‘hidden warriors’ will have Bangkok under siege soon, warns academic
Bangkok is facing an exponential increase in Omicron infections and will likely see a daily caseload of 10,000 by the month’s end “unless the threat is stopped immediately”, an academic has warned.
Dr Sunt Srianthumrong, a lecturer at the National Institute of Development Administration (NIDA), said on Friday the capital has recorded 821, 1,172 and 1,637 Covid-19 cases over the past three days, respectively, and almost all of them were of the highly transmissible Omicron variant.
“We can no longer shut our eyes and say the numbers are okay,” he said in a Facebook post, likening the Omicron outbreak to the Greek legend of the Trojan war.
“Like Troy, the Omicron troops have jumped out of the Trojan horse and are now advancing across the city. They are likely to completely seize the capital in the new few days,” Sunt said.
“I’m sorry but we will definitely be defeated. Our commander ordered a reduction in sentries, wrongly believing the enemies were withdrawing their forces,” the Facebook post read.
Recent records show that the number of cases in Bangkok has doubled every four days, and the graph is “dangerously steep”, Sunt wrote.
“We have to stop this immediately, or Bangkok will see 5,000 [daily] cases next week and 10,000 before the month’s end. The worst-case scenario is 70,000 daily cases per 10-million population, just like Israel.”
He called for immediate action to be taken, including working from home for at least a month, strict social distancing, regular antigen testing and the wearing of masks.
“Stop thinking that Omicron only causes mild symptoms and does not attack the lungs. Covid is now killing 8,000 to 9,000 people a day and most of the cases are Omicron. This means almost 3 million deaths a year — five to 10 times worse than influenza,” he wrote.
