Death rate for Omicron rises above Delta, prompting call to halt quarantine-free entry
Deaths from Covid-19 have risen 1.3 times in the Omicron wave since the start of January, the Senate Public Health Commission has warned. The infection rate has also risen 5.5 times compared to the Delta wave, according to commission vice chair Dr Chalermchai Boonyaleephan on Friday.
Writing in a Blockdit post, he said Omicron had increased daily infections by 4-6 times compared to Delta despite being 3.5 times less severe than other strains.
He added that two Covid-19 jabs was not enough to protect against Omicron, citing foreign studies.
Thailand’s daily caseload soared from 3,445 on January 1 to 11,996, on January 21.
By February 9 (Wednesday) that figure had jumped to 19,110 infections per day.
However, since January 1, the number of severely ill Covid patients needing respirators dropped from 158 to 111.
Nevertheless, the death rate increased slightly by 1.3 times, rising from 15 deaths in the first week of January to 19 deaths per day during the first week of February.
The government should warn people to keep their guard up, said Chalermachai, adding that authorities should avoid saying Omicron causes only mild flu-like symptoms and will become endemic.
He also advised rethinking the Test & Go tourism scheme for quarantine-free entry and speeding up the booster shot campaign, especially for the elderly and people with chronic diseases.
He added that the rising infection rate was no reason to panic as fewer patients were developing severe symptoms. However, people should take precautions against being infected so that the public health system could handle the crisis effectively.
