Bangkok’s Covid-19 emergency response centre has been upgraded to tackle the latest wave of Covid-19 driven by the Omicron variant.
The 1669 hotline at the Emergency Medical Centre (Erawan Centre) has increased its number of lines from 30 to 60 with staff working 24 hours a day, said Bangkok governor Aswin Kwanmuang on Tuesday. It plans to add another 60 lines next week to ensure no patients are left behind.
The centre has also doubled its patient-transfer capacity to 300 per day.
The centre uses a citywide network of police, soldiers, volunteers and foundations to transfer patients to home and community isolation or hospitals, depending on the severity of illness.
Bangkok recorded 593 new Covid-19 cases and one fatality on Tuesday.
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has urged all government and private hospitals to accept children sickened with Covid-19.
Prayut was deeply concerned over reports of hospitals denying treatment to infected children, said a government spokeswoman Traisulee Traisoranakul on Monday.
“The premier asked the Public Health Ministry to implement a system to ensure that children infected with Covid-19 receive treatment as soon as possible as they may have low immunity to the virus,” she said.
Prayut also urged Queen Sirikit National Institute of Child Health to provide guidelines on treating Covid-positive kids for hospitals nationwide.
Authorities advised parents to get vaccinated, avoid taking children to crowded places and keep monitoring their symptoms.
Children with fever, cough, runny nose or contact with Covid-19 cases should receive an antigen [ATK] test and a second test 3-4 days later.
Parents of children who test positive should contact their local hospitals for help, while parents living in Bangkok and surrounding areas can contact Queen Sirikit National Institute of Child Health or the National Health Security Office hotline on 1330, added the spokeswoman.
Social security cardholders can now get free treatment for Covid-19, Labour Minister Suchart Chomklin said on Monday.
He said the Social Security Office (SSO) has negotiated free Covid-19 treatment deals with more than 50 medical institutions that fall under the social security system.
“As of January 5, 3,230 beds in hospitels nationwide have also been earmarked for social security beneficiaries,” he said.
Suchart added that SSO was also negotiating Covid-19 treatment deals with the National Health Security Office (NHSO).
He said social security cardholders who develop mild symptoms can register for treatment under the home isolation scheme at the NHSO website.
He added that people should not panic about the pandemic and new variants.
“The Labour Ministry will take good care of all social security beneficiaries and we will overcome the crisis together,” he said.
Covid-19 patients who are social security cardholders can call the Labour Ministry hotline at 1506 (press 6) for immediate help.
The Banglamphu canal as well as the waterway behind Wat Parinayok Worawihan in Bangkok’s Phra Nakhon area are being renovated as part of a project to turn the capital’s Rattanakosin Island into a tourist destination.
The renovation of the 1,500-metre-long Klong Banglamphu is 40 per cent finished and should be completed by July, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) said.
The BMA has also been calling on canal-side communities to avoid building structures and placing things too close to the banks and to stop throwing garbage into the city’s waterways.
Last week, an international news agency reported that a scientist in Cyprus had found a new Covid-19 variant, which carried identifiers of both Delta and Omicron.
The scientist then reported it to the international initiative GISAID and named it “Deltacron”. However, neither GSAID nor the World Health Organisation (WHO) have identified Deltacron as a new variant yet.
Dr Chalermchai Boonyaleepun, vice chairman of the Public Health Commission, said on Monday that people should not panic over this new variant because it may not exist.
A virologist in the UK said based on reports, it is possible that the 24 samples were contaminated and urged people to wait for official confirmation.
To help people understand the basic facts of Covid-19 variants, Dr Chalermchai lists four points:
The novel coronavirus (Covid-19) is an infectious disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus that can mutate easily.
GSAID is a global science initiative that collects data of all new variants before it verifies and reports them to the public.
There are more than 1,000 main variants and sub-variants. However, not all have been reported to the public because they do not meet the top three dimensions of public health, mainly ability to spread, ability to develop severe symptoms and ability to resist the vaccine.
If a new variant is important and will affect humanity, WHO will name it using a Greek alphabet. So far, WHO has used up most of the alphabets before the 15th alphabet, Omicron, and the next variant will be called “Pi”.
Hence, Chalermchai said, people should not believe everything because the so-called Deltacron variant has not been verified yet. If it is indeed a new variant then it needs to be evaluated based on the three dimensions of public health and should be named “Pi”.
A new strain of Covid-19 was last week detected in Cyprus and named Deltacron because it was reportedly a mixture of the Omicron and Delta variants.
Suphakit Sirilak, director-general of the Department of Medical Sciences, on Monday, however, cast doubts on the existence of this new variant.
He said a researcher from Cyprus had sent data from 24 samples to the GISAID initiative showing that Deltacron had mutations from both Delta and Omicron variants. But, he said, if it was indeed a new variant then both the Cypriot researchers and GISAID should have come to the same conclusion. Instead, he said, GISAID has classified these 24 samples as the Delta variant.
Hence, it is likely that the samples were contaminated by the Omicron variant or all 24 patients were infected by both Delta and Omicron, which was unlikely, he said.
Travellers from Africa can register for a Thailand Pass at https://tp.consular.go.th/ to enter the Kingdom under Sandbox and Alternative Quarantine (AQ) schemes from Tuesday onwards.
The quarantine period under the AQ scheme for fully vaccinated travellers has been reduced to seven days and 10 days for unvaccinated travellers, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Tanee Sangrat said on Monday.
“However, travellers under the AQ scheme must register again if they want to enter Thailand under other schemes,” he said.
Public Health Ministry reported on Tuesday (January 11) morning that in the past 24 hours there are 7,133 new patients who tested positive for Covid-19, 45 of whom have been found in prisons.
Death toll increased by 12, while 3,306 patients were cured and allowed to leave hospitals.
The country’s total caseload from Covid-19 stands at 2,284,609 – 2,200,785 of whom have recovered, 61,974 are still in hospitals and 21,850 have died.
Separately, another 28,297 people were given their first Covid-19 shot in the last 24 hours, 69,514 their second shot and 185,763 a booster, bringing the total number of Covid-19 vaccine doses administered nationwide to 106,758,696.
According to Worldometer, confirmed cases globally had risen to 311.1 million on Tuesday, 260.67 million of whom have recovered, 44.92 million are active cases (93,327 in severe condition) and 5.51 million have died (up by 4,608).
Thailand ranks 25th in the global list of most cases, which is topped by the US with 62.66 million, followed by India with 35.87 million, Brazil with 22.56 million, the UK with 14.62 million and France with 12.21 million.
The Thailand Meteorological Department said on Tuesday (January 11) that another high-pressure system from China extended to over upper Vietnam. It is expected to move to the Northeast of Thailand and the South China Sea today.
Cool to cold, strong winds and a decrease in temperature by 2-4 °C are forecast in the Northeast. Cool to cold with morning fog are likely in the North. Cool with morning light fog are likely in the Central and the East regions.
On mountaintops of the North and the Northeast, cold to very cold is forecast. The minimum temperature of the North mountaintops is in range of 4-14 °C while the Northeast ranges by 7-15 °C.
The weak northeast monsoon prevails across the Gulf of Thailand and the South with less rains and isolated thundershowers for the lower South.
The 24-hour weather forecast for different regions:
North: Cool to cold with morning fog; temperature lows of 14-18 °C and highs of 31-36 °C; temperature on hilltops is likely to drop to 4-14 °C.
Northeast: Cool to cold with strong winds, decrease in temperature by 2–4 °C; temperature lows of 13-18 °C and highs of 30-33 °C; temperature on hilltops is likely to drop to 7-15 °C.
Central: Cool with morning light fog; temperature lows of 18-20 °C and highs of 33-35 °C.
East: Cool with morning light fog; temperature lows of 18-24 °C, highs of 31-35 °C; waves below 1 metre high and about 1 metre offshore.
South (east coast): Cloudy and isolated thundershowers; temperature lows of 19-24 °C, highs of 29-31 °C; waves about 1 metre high and above 1 metre in thundershowers in Surat Thani upwards, while 1-2 metres high and about 2 metres in thundershowers in Nakhon Si Thammarat downwards.
South (west coast): Cloudy and isolated light rains; temperature lows of 21-25 °C, highs of 32-34 °C; waves below 1 metre high and about 1 metre offshore.
Bangkok and surrounding areas: Cool with morning light fog; temperature lows of 22-24 °C, highs of 33-36 °C.
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