Regional News
Thailand’s Latest Strain of Covid Far More Deadly than Previous Ones
According to health experts the latest wave of covid-19 seems to be far more deadly than previous outbreaks in Thailand. The latest cases of Covid-19 with the UK variant spread faster than the kind previously found in Thailand.
The Thai government on Thursday reported 7 more Covid-19 deaths,the highest daily death toll from the virus since the pandemic began early last year.
This month’s death toll has reached 23, equivalent to 0.12% of cases, said Dr Taweesilp Visanuyothin, spokesman for the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration, (CCSA). As of Thursday there had been 1,470 new covid-19 infections recorded in Thailand. There has been 117 deaths overall out of 48,113 total infections.
All the new covid-19 cases have been local infections, of which 1,370 were confirmed at hospitals and 100 via mass testing.
In an interview with the Bangkok Post Dr Taweesilp said the latest trend was worrying. “We remain concerned about the Covid-19 situation in the country because the daily increase is exceeding 1,000 cases,” he said.
All seven fatalities were local people, who had caught the disease since the start of last month and died since Tuesday. Six of them were aged 45-86 and all had chronic pre-existing ailments, including heart disease and hypertension.
The youngest fatality was a 24-year-old female vendor from Phatthalung, who had struggled with an obesity problem.
Health issues of covid fatalities sparse
On April 7, the woman attended an entertainment venue and came into contact with an infected visitor. On April 16, she had a fever, sore throat and cough. She tested positive the following day, with lung inflammation and shortness of breath and died on April 20.
Sparse details have also been released about the health issues of the other fatalities. They were a 68-year-old Thai female childminder from Saraburi who had allergies;
A Thai man, 83, with hypertension and high cholesterol, in Bangkok;
A bedridden Thai woman, 80, with diabetes, in Nakhon Pathom;
A Thai driver aged 45 with hypertension and high cholesterol, in Bangkok;
A Thai male state enterprise worker, 59, with diabetes, who lived in Bangkok;
and an 86-year-old Thai man with heart disease, also from Bangkok.
The capital logged 446 new cases on Thursday, up from 350 on Tuesday and 365 on Wednesday — there were 118 new cases in Nonthaburi, 99 in Chiang Mai, 97 in Chon Buri and 42 in Songkhla.
Of the 48,113 total cases, 29,848 (62%) had recovered, including 477 who had been discharged over the past 24 hours, while 18,148 were still in hospitals.
Dr Taweesilp admitted the huge number of hospitalizations was placing a heavy burden on medical and health personnel.
