Be ready for surge in Covid infections, Dr Thira tells schools

An expert on preventive medicine from Chulalongkorn University warned schools to raise their guard as Covid-19 infections in Thailand may have risen to more than 18,000 people per day.

Assoc Prof Dr Thira Woratanarat, a lecturer at Chulalongkorn University’s Faculty of Medicine, said in a Facebook post on Tuesday that he believes the virus that causes Covid may now be infecting between 13,443 and 18,671 people per day.

Though he did not explain how he came up with such specific estimates, he said it was based on the figures released by the Public Health Ministry for last week (May 12 to 18).

According to the report, 1,882 Covid patients were admitted to hospital last week and 16 had died. Of those admitted, 679 had developed lung infections and 281 had to be put on ventilators.

Thira noted that the number of admitted patients last week had risen slightly from the previous week, and this increase had continued for 10 consecutive weeks.

He said the number of patients with lung infections had risen 15.5% from the previous week, and this was the 7th consecutive week recording a rise in patients with lung infections. Lung infections have been rising over the past 20 months, he said.

Thira added that the number of patients on ventilators had also risen 18.6% last week and was the highest over the past 17 months.

Meanwhile, Covid-related deaths last week rose 45.5% compared to the previous week and was the highest in 10 months.

Hence, he said, schools should monitor the condition of their students, separate students or allow online classes for students who appear ill.

The doctor also advised parents to closely monitor their children’s condition and perform ATK tests on those who appear sick to ensure they do not spread Covid.

He said people should also continue to protect themselves by wearing flu masks when they are outdoors.