Ministry: Lax control will lead to Covid count soaring to 100,000 a day after Songkran

AMID a Covid tally of 23,834 cases and 54 deaths today (Mar. 4) the Public Health Ministry warned that the daily count could soar to 100,000 after Songkran festival if preventive measures are not strictly maintained, Thai Rath newspaper.

Aside from the 23,834 confirmed Covid cases there were an additional 31,571 who tested positive via ATK adding up to 55,405.

The cumulative confirmed total since the start of the pandemic has now reached 2,981,996

Another 19,351 patients were cured with this increasing total recoveries since the start of the pandemic to 2,731,029 while 227,843 are still undergoing treatment. Of the latter  80,539 are in hospitals and 147,304 in field hospitals and other facilities with 1,115 in serious condition and 337 requiring oxygen.

Today’s 54 fatalities raises the death toll to 23,124.

At the same time Dr. Sophon Iamsirithavorn, deputy director-general of the Disease Control Department, said the peak of the current wave of Covid infection will likely be reached early May this year and charts indicate that the daily tally will be rising continuously.

If people strictly maintain preventive measures the daily tally would likely reach 50,000 cases at most but with lax discipline it could double to 100,000.

During the first two months of this year it was found that it is the 20-29 age group that got the most cases but infection has also increased among children from newborn to 19 years.

While fewer elderly caught Covid during the year’s first two months, when they did fall sick they were many times more likely to die than other age groups.

According to data from Jan. 1, 2022 to Feb. 28, 2022 altogether 928 elderly people died of whom 557 were unvaccinated, or 60 percent, while those who had received three doses of vaccines were 41 times less likely to die than those who had not.

CAPTIONS: 

Top: A Thai man getting tested for coronavirus in Bangkok. Photo: NNT

Home page: A representative image of coronavirus. Photo: Webmd.com

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