Thai health officials anticipate a minor wave of infections during this year’s colder season due to the increasing number of severe COVID-19 cases and consequent deaths, mirroring the global scenario.
Hospitalizations for COVID reached over 4,000 cases during the week of November 13-19, according to Dr. Opas Karnkawinpong, Permanent Secretary of Public Health. This works out to an average of 565 cases per day. It was a rise from the previous week’s total of roughly 3,200 admissions, which was already a significant number.
There were 69 deaths during this time period, which is a significant increase from the 49 deaths reported the week before. Last week, there were a total of 432 confirmed instances of pneumonia, including 252 patients who required mechanical breathing. Both of these numbers increased from the previous week, which had 329 cases of pneumonia and 178 intubations.
According to Dr. Opas, an international outbreak has begun as other nations report increases in cases.
Thai health officials had anticipated a modest increase in the number of individuals attending end-of-year social gatherings. As a result of being more persistent in the environment during colder months, respiratory viruses tend to spread more rapidly during those times as well.
Since the majority of serious cases and deaths occur among the unvaccinated and those who did not obtain boosters, the Ministry of Population Health is urging the general public to remain up-to-date on their COVID-19 immunizations.
Dr. Opas has indicated additional research is required to discover if the newer COVID variants are more contagious or deadly than older ones. However, there is no proof that newer varieties can cause more severe symptoms, and their capacity to avoid immune responses makes them more contagious.
