Thailand will see less rain this week as the southwest monsoon over the Andaman Sea, the South and Gulf is weakening. However, southerly and southeasterly winds continue prevailing over the lower Northeast, Central and the East, the Thai Meteorological Department said on Monday.
On Friday and Saturday, the southwest monsoon prevailing over the Andaman Sea and the Gulf of Thailand will strengthen, bringing more rain, with isolated heavy showers in the East and the South. People in these areas should beware of severe conditions, the department said.
Over the next week, scattered thundershowers have been forecast for Greater Bangkok, North, Northeast and Central regions, with temperatures in the lows of 22 to 28 degrees Celsius and highs of 29 to 37 degrees.
The East, however, is expected to see some heavy rainfall with the coastal areas seeing metre-high waves and even higher during thundershowers.
The South will also see scattered thundershowers and isolated heavy rains, and metre-high waves. The western coast of the South will be hit with heavy rain and metre-high waves, which will rise higher during thundershowers.
Thailand on Sunday upgraded its monkeypox alert to the national level after an emergency meeting of health agencies and the public health minister.
Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul called the meeting after the World Health Organisation on Saturday declared monkeypox a global health emergency.
Anutin said monitoring and control of monkeypox in Thailand will be taken over by the Public Health Ministry’s emergency operations centre.
Anutin said the meeting had also discussed the timeline of Thailand’s first confirmed monkeypox case.
On Tuesday, lab tests confirmed that a Nigerian man hospitalised in Phuket had contracted monkeypox. He then fled via Sa Kaew province to Cambodia and was arrested there on Saturday.
Anutin said health chiefs at the meeting believed the Nigerian national had not spread the virus to others over the past month, so Thailand was still safe.
He said that disease control officials around the country were working with border checkpoints to screen travellers for monkeypox. Travellers from at-risk countries were being monitored tightly, he added.
The Medical Services Department assured the meeting it had enough smallpox vaccine in stock to protect residents of Thailand. The vaccine is reported to have been in cold storage for 40 years, but the department said it was still viable.
It also assured the meeting that the country had sufficient medicine and facilities to treat patients in the event of a monkeypox outbreak.
Anutin said universal Covid prevention measures were also effective against monkeypox, which was a slower-spreading disease.
“There is no need for people to panic as monkeypox virus does not spread rapidly like Covid,” he said.
“Measures to lower risk from Covid can also be used [for monkeypox], including wearing masks, washing hands with alcohol gel and social distancing, as well as avoiding crowded areas.”
Anutin said monkeypox spreads via sexual activity, so people should protect themselves in the same way they do against HIV.
The meeting also appointed Medical Services Department specialist Dr Naruemol Sawanpanyalert to explain various preventive measures to the public.
Anutin said ministry medical experts would meet on Monday to discuss preventive measures against monkeypox and guidelines for hospitals.
Meanwhile, Phuket health officials said they have tracked down another 19 people who came into close contact with the infected man. The 19 at-risk individuals were traced to six locations or services used by the Nigerian national. The Phuket Public Health Office said two of the 19 had tested negative for monkeypox virus while test results for the others would be known in a few days.
The number of patients being treated for the effects of cannabis has dropped sharply a month after the herb was legalised, the Public Health Ministry reported on Saturday.
Cannabis was removed from Thailand’s narcotics list on June 9, allowing people to grow the herb for medicinal and commercial purposes.
According to Panthep Puaphongphan, the government’s cannabis public relations spokesman, 33 patients had been treated for effects of the herb in July, down 81.66 per cent from 180 patients in June.
He added that the number of patients undergoing medical treatment for cannabis intoxication has reached the lowest point since October.
“Most patients who have received treatment for cannabis overdose will be more careful when using herb and will not repeat their mistake,” Panthep said, adding that some had even quit using the herb.
Panthep Puaphongphan
He also suggested that the reason why the number of cannabis addicts worldwide remained low was because most heavy users tend to fall asleep instead of seeking more of the herb.
Every cannabis sapling in the Parliament complex was removed and disposed of on Saturday under the orders of Parliament President Chuan Leekpai.
Some 100 saplings were spotted by the gardeners while they were inspecting a banyan tree that had been knocked over in a storm on Friday.
Though cannabis has been decriminalised in Thailand, it is prohibited in government buildings, schools and police stations.
Dismissing talk of a bad omen from the knocking over of the banyan tree, Chuan instructed officials to check the grounds for more such saplings and find out who was responsible for planting them.
As of press time, nobody had come forward. However, an MP said that whoever planted the saplings had good gardening skills, because though other plants in the grounds were doing badly, the cannabis plants were flourishing.
Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul called an urgent meeting with public health agencies on Sunday to discuss measures to cope with monkeypox, which has been declared a global health emergency.
Anutin said this discussion was necessary after the World Health Organisation (WHO) upgraded the recent monkeypox outbreak to the status of a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC).
Between January 1 and July 20, 14,533 probable and confirmed monkeypox cases were reported to the WHO from 72 countries. The cases included three deaths in Nigeria and two in the Central African Republic.
The PHEIC status was announced by WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Saturday. The upgrade is aimed at triggering an international response to the outbreak. It may also unlock funding for collaboration or sharing of vaccines and treatment.
Tedros said an expert committee met on Thursday to discuss the outbreak and they were split on the decision to upgrade the outbreak, with nine members against and six for the declaration.
The WHO chief said he had to stop in to break the deadlock and declare PHEIC.
“Though I’m declaring a public health emergency of international concern, for the moment this is an outbreak that is concentrated among men who have sex with men, especially those with multiple sexual partners,” Tedros said at a media briefing in Geneva on Saturday.
Anutin, meanwhile, said he will discuss preventive measures and treatment options with the directors-general of the Disease Control Department, the Medical Services Department, the Medical Sciences Department, and the Health Service Support Department as well as medical experts.
He said Thailand has been taking steps against monkeypox since May, though the first confirmed case was only found last week. Since May, he said, hospitals have been told to scan possible cases and have potential patients immediately undergo lab tests.
Thailand’s first known confirmed monkeypox patient was a 27-year-old Nigerian man who fled to Cambodia after he tested positive for monkeypox at a Phuket hospital. The man was eventually tracked down and detained in Phnom Penh on Saturday night.
The Northeast India Festival in Bangkok, to be held in CentralWorld next weekend, marks 75 years of bilateral ties between Thailand and India.
The exhibition will showcase a wide range of products from India’s Northeast, including agri-products, processed food and handicrafts among others.
The Northeast of India, comprising the states of Arunachal, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura and Sikkim, is renowned for its beauty and natural resources. It is also known for its long-standing traditions of art and craft, including weaving, wood carving and basketry.
The region has rich human resources due to high literacy levels, while Sikkim recently became the first state in India to make its farming sector completely organic.
The festival, organised by the Indian embassy and Assam NGO Trend MMS, runs from July 29 to 31.
The weather authorities have called on people to be prepared for flash floods and runoffs in several parts of Thailand on Sunday.
The Thai Meteorological Department said that though less rain is expected overall, isolated heavy showers will hit some parts of the North, Northeast, Central, East and South (western coast) regions.
“People should beware of severe conditions that may cause flash floods and overflows,” the department said.
The areas that can be affected are:
• North: Mae Hong Son, Chiang Mai, Phichit, Phitsanulok, Tak, Kamphaeng Phet and Phetchabun.
• Northeast: Chaiyaphum, Khon Kaen, Nakhon Ratchasima, Buri Ram, Surin, Si Sa Ket and Ubon Ratchathani
• Central: Nakhon Sawan, Uthai Thani, Kanchanaburi and Ratchaburi.
• East: Chachoengsao, Sa Kaew, Rayong, Chanthaburi and Trat.
• South: Ranong and Phang Nga.
The department also forecast 2-metre-high waves in the upper portions of the Andaman Sea, high waves in the lower part of the sea and the Gulf of Thailand and expects thundershowers to make the waves even higher.
“All ships should proceed with caution,” the department added.
The Nigerian man who was diagnosed with monkeypox in Thailand last week was finally tracked down and detained in Phnom Penh on Saturday night.
The 27-year-old, identified as Osmond Chihazirim Nzerem, was handed over to the Cambodian Health Ministry as the country’s first monkeypox case.
Nzerem entered Thailand in October last year on an education visa, which expired in January.
He later travelled to Phuket, where he visited a local hospital last Saturday (July 16) with small blisters on his skin. Tests confirmed he had monkeypox, but health officials were not able to track him down.
According to police reports, the patient swam across the canal below a newly built bridge linking Thailand to Cambodia in Sa Kaew’s Aranyaprathet district. He was reportedly picked up on the other side to be driven to the seaside town of Sihanoukville.
Wanveera Som, Cambodia’s assistant police commissioner, said on Sunday that Nzerem is being treated at the Khmer-Soviet Friendship Hospital in the capital.
He said the patient faced charges under Cambodian law and would not be sent back to Thailand.
Health officials in the Thai border province of Sa Kaeo confirmed that international principles of disease control dictated that Nzerem should not return to Thailand.
Sa Kaeo Provincial Public Health official Prapas Pookduang said no one in Sa Kaeo was at risk of monkeypox infection as Nzerem had only passed through the province without stopping.
Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul has urged agencies nationwide to prepare for a monkeypox outbreak in Thailand, in line with the World Health Organisation (WHO)’s announcement on Saturday.
WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Saturday morning declared a global health emergency after monkeypox spread to at least 75 countries and territories.
The Public Health Ministry reported on Sunday (July 24) that over the past 24 hours, 2,390 Covid-19 patients have been admitted to hospitals.
The death toll has risen by 30, while 2,358 patients have recovered and discharged from hospitals.
The number of cumulative cases in the country since January 1, 2022, stands at 2,352,418.
The country’s total caseload from Covid-19 stands at 4,575,853 – 4,519,994 of whom have recovered, 24,702 are still in hospitals and 31,157 have died.
Separately, another 13,297 people were given their first Covid-19 shot in the last 24 hours, 35,975 their second shot and 96,778 a booster, bringing the total number of Covid-19 vaccine doses administered nationwide to 141,182,721.
According to Worldometer, confirmed cases globally had risen to 574.76 million on Sunday, 544.34 million of whom have recovered, 24.01 million are active cases (44,924 in severe condition) and 6.40 million have died.
Thailand ranks 27th in the global list of most cases, which is topped by the US with 92.17 million, followed by India with 43.88 million, Brazil with 33.58 million, France with 33.48 million and Germany with 30.33 million.
Panthep Puaphongphan
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