This week, a police captain committed suicide in Bangkok’s Police General Hospital, and investigators concluded that he hanged himself over fear of putting his mother and wife at risk. He was a Covid-19 patient.
This victim is a perfect example of how people are getting mentally stressed over the virus.
The Nation Thailand has put together a list of steps you can take to protect yourself from this and other viruses, and ensure you remain in top health.
Keeping an eye on emotions
The US Department of Health and Human Services has advised people to monitor their emotions and identify feelings of fear, concern, irritation, nightmares, depression or loss of concentration.
Other points of concern are overeating or stress eating.
Among those who have chronic conditions, like diabetes, high blood pressure or heart problems, additional signals will be a headache, stomachache, muscular pain or rash.
Talk to someone
Speaking to a therapist is the best choice if you have nobody to speak to. The four topics found to be of greatest concern to people amid the outbreak are fear of infection, unstable nature of the virus, employment and when this situation will come to an end.
Living with Covid-19
Though social media has been full of comments and posts about the virus, people should only consume information that is important and official.
Despite the crisis, people should lead their lives as normally as possible, and ensure depression does not kick in during quarantine.
Healthy routine
To avoid depression during quarantine or lockdown, ensure you have eaten and slept well. These two things are key to boosting immunity. Also keep in touch with family and friends, especially since being alone can cause more tension. Lastly, pick up a new hobby or fun, creative activities to keep yourself busy.
Elderly woman infected with Covid-19 dies waiting for an ambulance in Bangkok
An elderly woman reportedly died while waiting for an ambulance to take her to a hospital from her house in Bangkok’s Bang Kho Laem district.
The news was reported by Drama-addict website through a video posted on their Facebook page on Thursday.
“There were three elderly women living in the house. All three had reportedly tested positive for Covid-19 and were waiting for an ambulance to take them to a hospital,” said the post.
“Due to high infections in Bangkok, most hospitals do not have beds available. Sadly, one woman died before an ambulance showed up.”
Drama-addict said that Thailand was facing Italy’s predicament of more elders having to stay home waiting for hospital beds to become available while some succumbed to the virus while waiting.
“As elderly people are at high risk of having severe symptoms, we need to increase medical professionals and ambulances to take them to hospitals for treatment as soon as possible, while those who have non-severe symptoms should be moved immediately to field hospitals or hospitels,” it said.
Hospitels are hotels that are converted into hospitals to treat patients whose symptoms have not progressed, in a bid to help alleviate crowdedness at general hospitals.
“If this trend persists without a solution being found, we will have more elders dying in their homes, while people suffering from other illnesses also will have trouble finding hospital beds,” Drama-addict warned.
The Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) on Friday reported 2,070 new cases and four deaths, bringing the total number of Covid-related fatalities in Thailand to 121.
The deaths included an 84-year-old man in Bangkok who had no chronic conditions. He tested positive on April 18 and died two days later.
The second case was a 74-year-old man in Songkhla who suffered from high blood pressure and arrhythmia. He had come in contact with another confirmed Covid patient on April 6 and tested positive on April 10. He succumbed to the virus on Thursday.
The third case was a 29-year-old woman in Samut Prakan who suffered from obesity. She had been in contact with another patient on April 10 and tested positive on April 16. She died from the virus on Thursday.
The fourth case was an 83-year-old man in Samut Prakan who had high blood pressure, diabetes and heart problems. He contracted the virus from another patient, was admitted to hospital on April 9 and died on April 22.
Of the 2,070 confirmed cases, the highest number or 740 were in Bangkok, followed by 237 in Chiang Mai, 125 in Chonburi and 79 in Samut Prakan.
Eight of the cases were returnees, including two Thais from Malaysia and Turkey, five Indians from their own country and one Pakistani from his homeland.
Meanwhile, 341 patients have recovered and been discharged from the hospital.
As of Friday, the number of confirmed cases in Thailand had risen to 50,183. Of these, 46,929 had been contracted locally, including 21,074 who were found via proactive testing, while 3,254 were returnees.
So far, 30,189 have recovered and been discharged, 19,873 are still in hospitals and 121 have died.
In the last 24 hours, 87,465 people had received their first shot of the Covid-19 vaccine, while 12,520 got their second shot, bringing the total number of doses administered in Thailand up to 964,825.
Meanwhile, according to Worldometer, as of 11am on Friday, the number of confirmed cases globally had risen to 145.32 million (up by 884,273), 123.3 million of whom have recovered, 18.94 million are active cases (110,090 in severe condition) and 3.08 million have died (up by 13,388).
Thailand ranks 105th in the global list of most cases, which is topped by the US with 32.66 million, followed by India 16.25 million, Brazil 14.17 million, France 5.4 million and Russia 4.73 million.
K-Research slashes its foreign tourist arrivals forecast for the year
Kasikorn Research Centre (K-Research) on Friday forecast a huge slump in the number of foreign tourists visiting Thailand this year to around 250,000 to 1.2 million people following the latest Covid-19 wave since late March.
The centre had forecast in March around 2 million foreign tourists in 2021, before the third wave emerged.
“The third wave could last longer than previous ones due to the higher number of infections and the ability of the mutated virus strain to spread faster,” K-Research said.
“We predict that the first half of the year will net only 35,000 foreign tourists, while the situation will slowly improve in the second half of the year.
“Even if Thailand is able to contain the latest outbreak, the number of foreign tourists also depends on the pandemic situation overseas, as well as the tourism promotion policies that other countries would promote,” added the centre. “Most importantly, the longer the Covid-19 situation persists in a country, the more severely it would diminish the people’s purchasing power and their ability to travel overseas.”
K-Research added that despite the government’s Phuket Sandbox scheme — expected to start in July — to let inoculated foreigners having a Covid-19-free certificate enter the province without going through quarantine, Thailand’s tourism industry would face a tough road ahead until the year-end due to the many challenges facing the global tourism market.
The Tourism Authority of Thailand on Thursday published on its website a list of 153 tourist attractions in 21 provinces nationwide that have been temporarily closed due to the current Covid-19 wave.
The 21 provinces where these sites are located are: Chiang Mai, Mae Hong Son, Nan, Tak, Phitsanulok, Uthai Thani, Lampang, Lamphun, Nakhon Sawan, Uttaradit, Phetchabun, Bangkok, Ayutthaya, Ratchaburi, Phetchaburi, Prachuab Khiri Khan, Kanchanaburi, Suphanburi, Lopburi, Saraburi and Chonburi.
Among the famous attractions that have been closed are: Huai Nam Dang National Park in Chiang Mai (until April 30), Si Nan National Park in Nan (until June 30), Umphang Wildlife Sanctuary in Tak (until April 30), Chae Son National Park in Lampang (until further notice) and The Grand Palace and Temple of the Emerald Buddha in Bangkok (until further notice).
DDC unveils Covid-19 vaccination plan for second half of the year
The Department of Disease Control (DDC) posted an infographic on its Facebook page on Thursday, displaying a calendar for giving 61 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine in the second half of the year.
The department said that 6 million doses will be given in June, 10 million doses a month from July to November and 5 million doses in December.
“Don’t forget to register via the Line official account “Mor Phrom” (doctors ready) from May onwards,” the department said.
The DDC added that the government was working with private partners to import another 35 million doses of vaccine.
Hot day with isolated thundershowers forecast for most of Thailand
The Thailand Meteorological Department said on Friday that a heat low covers upper Thailand, leading to hot to very hot weather during the day.
The southwesterly wind brings moisture from the Andaman Sea and the Gulf to the Northeast, the Central including Bangkok and its vicinity, and the East regions. Isolated thundershowers are forecast in these areas, while the westerly wind brings thundershowers to the South.
The department said that from April 26-29, thunderstorms with gusty winds, hail and isolated heavy rain are possible in the upper country due to another high-pressure system from China. This system will extend to the Northeast and the South China Sea.
The weather forecast for the next 24 hours:
North: Hot to very hot day with haze and isolated light rain; temperature lows of 20-27 degrees Celsius, highs of 38-41°C.
Northeast: Hot day with thundershowers in 20 per cent of the areas; temperature lows of 23-25°C, highs of 36-37°C.
Central: Hot day with isolated light rains; temperature lows of 24-26°C, highs of 36-39°C.
East: Hot day with thundershowers in 20 per cent of the areas; temperature lows of 25-28°C, highs of 33-37°C; waves less than a metre high and over a metre during thundershowers.
South (east coast): Thundershowers in 40 per cent of the areas; temperature lows of 23-25°C, highs of 33-35°C; waves a metre high and 1-2 metres during thundershowers.
South (west coast): Thundershowers in 60 per cent of the areas; temperature lows of 24-25°C, highs of 31-34°C; waves 1-2 metres high and two metres during thundershowers.
Bangkok and surrounding areas: Hot day with isolated light rains; temperature lows of 25-27°C, highs of 33-37°C.
Most of my career path is linked with the National Health Security Office (NHSO) and the people who are determined to strengthen the Thai health system. I made my career choice as a young doctor, and never regretted it.
Two decades ago, I joined doctors and a civil society group with an ambitious dream – making affordable healthcare accessible to every Thai.
Led by visionary Dr Sanguan Nitayarumpong, the group managed to convince Thailand’s political leaders and gained public support to launch the Universal Coverage Scheme (UCS) in 2002.
The government at the time founded NHSO to manage the scheme and Dr Sanguan became NHSO’s first secretary-general. Since then, I have been working for the NHSO and have watched it grow from a small governmental unit to the most crucial player in the Thai health system.
Today the NHSO employs more than 1,000 people and looks after some 49 million UCS beneficiaries. I am honoured to be part of this organisation and to be elected as the current secretary-general.
NHSO has made a big mark as it manages the most significant social welfare scheme ever established in Thailand. However, it needs to move beyond its previous successes and become a “future-oriented organization” – a direction I aim to take it to in the four years of my term.
Becoming future-oriented means NHSO must be ready to adapt, be flexible and resilient to overcome the different challenges lying ahead.
It needs to address challenges in four areas, namely the people, health services, finances and organisational development.
The people, who are diverse in terms of age, background, health conditions, and social strata, have different things influencing the state of their health, hence they all have different healthcare needs. For instance, the elderly need community-based long-term care. Ethnic minorities living in remote villages may need telehealth, while the homeless in cities may need mobile health services.
So, how can NHSO cover everybody’s health needs as well as protect them from catastrophic bills?
Currently, the quality of health services provided is of great concern. People often crowd hospitals seeking quality care. How do we improve access to primary care so people do not get sick and fill up hospital wards?
Finding a sustainable health financing model is another challenge. As the cost of public healthcare is rising every year, we need to implement a cost-effect financial model, find new funding sources and ensure good governance through real-time audits, responsive reimbursement and effective monitoring and evaluation.
A study conducted by Chulalongkorn University’s Faculty of Medicines found that the efficiency of the healthcare system rises by 10 per cent if the efficiency of the management system increases. No matter how big the health budget is, public health care will only be effective if services are of good quality and provided efficiently.
In the next four years, we shall focus on boosting UCS management’s efficiency in controlling rising costs and improving the quality of healthcare. That can be done using several strategies, including implementing health promotion and disease-prevention programmes, reducing the length of stay at hospitals while focusing on community-based care, and cutting the cost of medical supply procurement by effective negotiation with suppliers.
Moreover, NHSO and staff need to adapt to changes as well as adopt the concept of lifelong learning and developing new skills and abilities. NHSO will also require digital transformation to speed up our work and improve UCS funding management.
A merit system will be promoted and prioritised to encourage staff to do their best in serving UCS beneficiaries and the NHSO mission.
The NHSO will also find more partners to achieve that mission. Under the last secretary-general, Dr Sakchai Kanjanawatana, collaborations were built with several partners including the Public Health Ministry, health professionals and private health providers, to deliver health services to UCS beneficiaries.
Other important partners are UCS beneficiaries. We will boost participation channels, including social media and face-to-face public consultation, to get an idea on how to improve UCS. Each idea is vital to our future as we are still far from perfect.
The media and the international community often portray the NHSO as a 100-per-cent successful organisation, which may be misleading as all organisations experience failure first before becoming successful.
A future-oriented organisation does not just focus on its past successes but also considers its failures and challenges as lessons learned for the future. This is the path NHSO will take, so it can always find room for improvement and never stop looking for ways to achieve its missions.
Disease-control chief says Thailand’s third wave of Covid-19 has peaked
Thailand’s third wave of Covid-19 has reached its peak and should gradually decline over the next week or two, according to Disease Control Department chief
Dr Opas Karnkawinpong. On Thursday he credited the public for cooperating to control the latest outbreak, which has spawned more than 1,000 cases per day over the past week.
However, pubs, bars, parties were still adding to the daily caseload despite the government order to close entertainment venues and ban parties, he warned. People who were organising events that resulted in infections and quarantining should be punished according to the law, he added.
Dr Opas also provided more information about the stroke-like reaction suffered by six people among hundreds of thousands of Thais injected with Sinovac vaccine.
Most of the six were young women, he said. Their temporary symptoms – numbness and partial paralysis – were common to other vaccines, which suggests they were not caused by faulty manufacturing. Meanwhile, the symptoms occurred as soon as 5 minutes after vaccination, indicating it was not caused by germs. All victims recovered completely – some after treatment and some naturally. Finally, MRI scans showed no abnormalities, confirming full recovery.
The Public Health Ministry’s COVID-19 emergency medical centre has thus resolved to continue the Sinovac vaccination programme, but under strict standards, said Opas.
He added that Lampang Hospital had suspended Covid-19 vaccination for a few hours after one health worker developed stroke-like symptoms and dozens of others had fatigue and mild numbness in their hands and feet following their jabs. Reports that 40 had developed stroke symptoms were false, he said.
Meanwhile, vaccine recipients may soon get a mental health assessment before their jabs, said Opas. The assessment would help guard against what the World Health Organisation calls Immunisation Stress Related Response, or vaccine-related stress.
Sinovac bottling contamination may cause ‘paralysis’ reaction, says expert
A contaminated batch of Sinovac vaccine may be the cause of temporary paralysis suffered by seven recipients of the vaccine earlier this month, says a health expert.
Dr Thiravat Hemachudha, who heads Chulalongkorn University’s Centre for Emerging Infectious Diseases, said problems with the preparation or bottling were the likely culprits since the vaccine itself is not under suspicion.
Thai authorities said they would contact the vaccine’s manufacturer as part of their investigation into possible contamination.
The adverse effects in the seven recipients appeared to cause blood vessels to tense and shrink, reducing the supply of blood to the brain, Dr Thiravat explained.
Vasodilator drugs were administered to the recipients and their symptoms improved immediately. Blood vessels that contract for a prolonged period can cause permanent damage to brain tissue. In this case, thrombolytic drugs are used to alleviate symptoms.
Thiravat advised that people should be monitored for 30 minutes after receiving the vaccine and then self-monitor for at least 24 hours after returning home.
Treatment for adverse effects may sound complicated but it was successful and should not affect people’s plans to get vaccinated, he added.
