Category: Medicine

A senior Thai doctor has warned people not to underestimate the threat posed by the COVID-19 Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 sub-variants and has recommended additional booster shots, claiming that they can help ease serious consequences of infection by the mutated virus.

Professor Dr. Prasit Watanapa, dean of the Faculty of Medicine at Siriraj Hospital, said today (Monday) that, although there is no clear evidence proving that the BA.4 and BA.5 sub-variants can cause more serious symptoms, there have been reports that the they transmit faster and are beginning to overtake the current BA.2 sub-variant.

He said that more booster shots could help protect people from infection by the new sub-variants, as he advised thosewho have received three vaccine doses to receive a fourth dose and frontline medical staff to receive a fifth shot.

Meanwhile, Public Health Permanent Secretary Dr.Kiattibhoom Vongrachit said that, in the United States and Britain, it has been discovered that the BA.4 and BA.5 sub-variants are spreading faster than the BA.2 sub-variant by 1.3-1.4 times. In European countries, however, there have been no such reports.

He also said that there has not yet been a report of the BA.4 and BA.5 sub-variants causing more serious symptoms in Thailand.

As Thailand is entering the COVID post-pandemic era, he played down the possibility of a new mass outbreak, noting that the situation is steadily improving with fewer infections, serious cases and fatalities.

He said that nearly 140 million doses of vaccines have been administered in Thailand so far, with 60 million people havingreceived at least their first doses.

Regarding the vaccination of children aged from six months to five years, he said that the US Food and Drug Administration has already approved the vaccination of this group.

Dr. Paisarn Dunkum, secretary-general of Thai Food and Drug Administration, said that his office is waiting for both Pfizer and Moderna to apply for registration for their vaccines for administration to young children, adding that the amount of vaccine to be used in younger children will be less than that used in children aged from 5 to 11.

Source: Thai Public Broadcasting Service

LONDON (AP) — The World Health Organization said the escalating monkeypox outbreak in more than 50 countries should be closely monitored but does not warrant being declared a global health emergency.

In a statement Saturday, a WHO emergency committee said many aspects of the outbreak were “unusual” and acknowledged that monkeypox — which is endemic in some African countries — has been neglected for years.

“While a few members expressed differing views, the committee resolved by consensus to advise the WHO director-general that at this stage the outbreak should be determined to not constitute” a global health emergency, WHO said in a statement.

WHO nevertheless pointed to the “emergency nature” of the outbreak and said controlling its spread requires an “intense” response.

The committee said the outbreak should be “closely monitored and reviewed after a few weeks.” But it would recommend a re-assessment before then if certain new developments emerge — such as cases among sex workers; spread to other countries or within countries that have already had cases; increased severity of cases; or an increasing rate of spread.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreysus convened the emergency committee on Thursday after expressing concern about the epidemic of monkeypox in countries that haven’t previously reported the disease.

“What makes the current outbreak especially concerning is the rapid, continuing spread into new countries and regions and the risk of further, sustained transmission into vulnerable populations including people that are immunocompromised, pregnant women and children,” the WHO chief said.

Monkeypox has sickened people for decades in central and west Africa, but until last month, the disease had not been known to cause significant outbreaks in multiple countries at the same time and involving people with no travel links to the continent.

Declaring a global health emergency means that a health crisis is an “extraordinary” event requiring a globally-managed response and that a disease is at high risk of spilling across borders. WHO previously made similar declarations for diseases including COVID-19, Ebola in Congo and West Africa, Zika in Brazil and the ongoing effort to wipe out polio.

The emergency declaration mostly serves as a plea to draw more global resources and attention to an outbreak. Past announcements have had mixed impact, given that WHO is largely powerless when trying to convince countries to act.

WHO said this week it has confirmed more than 3,200 monkeypox infections in about 40 countries that haven’t previously reported the disease. The vast majority of cases are in men who are gay, bisexual or have sex with other men and more than 80% of the cases are in Europe.

A leading WHO adviser said last month the spike in cases in Europe was likely tied to sexual activity by men at two raves in Spain and Belgium, speculating that its appearance in the gay and bisexual community was a “random event.” British officials have said most cases in the U.K. involve men who reported having sex with other men in venues such as saunas and sex clubs.

Scientists warn that anyone in close, physical contact with someone infected with monkeypox or their clothing or bedsheets is at risk of catching the disease, regardless of their sexual orientation.

People with monkeypox often experience symptoms like fever, body aches and a rash; most recover within weeks without needing medical care.

Monkeypox in Africa mostly affects people who come into contact with infected wild animals, like rodents or primates. There has been about 1,500 reported cases of monkeypox, including 70 deaths, in Congo, Cameroon and the Central African Republic.

To date, scientists haven’t found any mutations in the monkeypox virus that suggest it’s more transmissible or lethal, although the number of changes detected show the virus has likely been spreading undetected for years.

The version of the disease transmitting beyond Africa typically has a fatality rate of less than 1%, while the version seen in Africa can kill up to 10% of people affected.

WHO is also creating a vaccine-sharing mechanism for monkeypox, which could see vaccines go to rich countries like Britain, which currently has the biggest outbreak beyond Africa.

Some experts warned that could entrench the deep inequities seen between rich and poor countries during the coronavirus pandemic.

“France, Germany, the U.S. and U.K. already have a lot of resources and plenty of vaccines to deal with this and they don’t need vaccines from WHO,” said Dr. Irwin Redlener, an expert in disaster preparedness and response at Columbia University.

“What we should be doing is trying to help the countries in Africa where monkeypox has been endemic and largely neglected,” he said. “Monkeypox is not COVID, but our attention should not be so distorted that it only becomes a problem when it is seen in rich countries.”

Source: Thai Public Broadcasting Service

During the 50th Programme Coordinating Board meeting held in Geneva, Thailand announced formally funding community-led health services (CLHS) as public health services. The National Health Security Board of Thailand has approved HIV prevention, treatment, and care to be directly reimbursed by the Universal Health Coverage scheme.

“This is a key milestone for Thailand regarding sustainable community-led service delivery and sustainable financing for community-based organizations. It is a model for the region and countries globally,” said Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director of UNAIDS.

The role of community-led organizations in providing HIV services is well recognized as an essential component leading to ending AIDS by 2030. Using people-centered, rights-based and stigma-free approaches by and for key population community and people living with HIV has shown to lead to an increased uptake of essential HIV services.

Since 2016, Thailand has started to fund project-based community-led HIV services through the Universal Health Coverage scheme. The allocation of the national budget has increased over time to support community-led organizations (CLO) working with people living with HIV and key populations.

However, until now, year-to-year contracting mechanisms led to operational gaps affecting the provision of HIV services. The formal recognition of community-led health services under the UHC scheme will allow for faster access to funding, continuity of service delivery, and increase CLOs capacity for greater coverage of HIV services.

“To reach the ambitious goal of ending AIDS, we have partnered with community-based organizations who play a vital role in HIV service provision to hard-to-reach populations and marginalized communities,” said Anutin Charnvirakul, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Public Health of Thailand.

Organizations led by communities who are eligible to provide HIV and STI services in their communities can register as service providers under the National Health Security System. To get this recognition, they need at least one year of service experience and require an accreditation by the Ministry of Public Health or other certified bodies. Community health workers with relevant experience also have to be certified by a government agency or accredited organization.

The UNAIDS Thailand office has been working with different partners to support the scale-up of community health workers’ certification and other accreditations as well as strengthening the sustainability of the community response.

In attendance at the 50th PCB were Dr Jadej Thammatacharee, Secretary General, National Health Security Office, Dr Opart Karnkawinpong, Director General, Department of Disease Control, Ministry of Public Health, Dr Suwit Wibulpolprasert, Advisor to the Office of the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Public Health and the entire three day meeting was chaired by H.E. Mr Anutin Charnvirakul, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Public Health.

Source: UNAIDS

Recent research undertaken by a team based at Prince of Songkhla University, in southern Thailand, has concluded that cat to human COVID-19 infection is possible, albeit very rare because infected cats do not shed virus for many days, like humans, according to Associate Professor Dr. Sarunyou Chusri, an expert on infectious diseases at the university’s Faculty of Medicine.

He disclosed yesterday (Monday) that the case the team studied was traced back to August 4th last year, when a 10-year-old domestic cat was living with its two owners in Bangkok, who were both infected with COVID-19.

Due to the shortage of hospital beds in the capital at the time, the owners travelled by car, with the cat, to Songkhla to get treatment at Songklanagarind Hospital on August 8th. The veterinarian was afraid that the cat might be infected too and decided to test it on August 10th. The cat was infected. During the test, however, the cat sneezed in the vet’s face. The vet was wearing a face mask, but no face shield.

Three days later, the vet developed a high fever and runny nose and tested positive for COVID-19. Two of his assistants tested negative.

Several countries in the Americas, Africa, Europe and Asia have reported the occurrence of COVID-19 in various animal species, including minks, cats, dogs, lions, and tigers. Most of these infections primarily originated from humans and were transmitted to the animal (reverse zoonosis).

Genomic sequencing confirmed that the cat, its two owners and the veterinarian were infected with an identical version of the virus, the Delta variant, which was not widespread in the local population at the time, according to Dr. Sarunyou.

This would indicate that the virus had been passed from the cat to a human but, after testing the vet’s two assistants twice, with negative results, he said that the risk of cat to human transmission is low, unless humans are in close contact with the infected animal.

Nonetheless, he recommended that pet owners, who are infected with COVID-19, refrain from close contact with their pets to avoid spreading the disease to the animals.

The work on cat to human transmission by the Thai team was first published in the Emerging Infectious Diseases journal of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of the United States on June 6th and reported by the New York Times on June 10th.

Source: Thai Public Broadcasting Service (Thai PBS)

New cases, severe cases, ventilated cases and deaths continue to show a weekly decrease. The average number of new laboratory-confirmed (PCR positive) COVID-19 cases reported per day (2,413) decreased by 10% in the past 7 days compared to the previous week (2,692)

Bangkok continues to report by far the highest daily number of COVID cases (with a daily average over the past week of 1,455) but reported a 7-day average decrease of 10% The reduction in new cases has seen the average daily number of all currently ‘active’ COVID-19 cases (23,010) over the last seven days decrease by 27% compared to the previous week (31,318). Most cases continue to be monitored in hospitels, community isolation and home isolation.

The average number of COVID cases occupying hospital beds per day over the past week (12,074) decreased by 15%

The average number of deaths per day over the past week decreased by 22% to 21. Most of these deaths would have been prevented if vaccination rates were higher, particularly in vulnerable groups.

The average daily number of severe COVID-19 cases over the past seven days (659) represented a decrease of 15% over the previous week (776).

The average daily number of ventilated COVID-19 cases over the past seven days (324) decreased by 14% compared to the number the week before (379) Although nationally new cases are decreasing, the policy of not confirming all probable cases by PCR testing, as well as the widespread use of rapid antigen tests (including those available ‘over the counter’ that may not be reported), continues to make it difficult to accurately monitor actual case counts.

Vaccination in Thailand continues to significantly reduce levels of severe illness and deaths caused by circulating COVID-19 strains. High vaccination rates also help to reduce the transmission of COVID-19. The COVID-19 situation in Thailand is improving, but there remains a long way to reduce the burden of ventilated cases and deaths from COVID-19 in Thailand. Vaccination rates remain low in some provinces and some important risk groups.

Source: World Health Organization

BEIJING (Reuters) – Authorities in China’s capital Beijing on Monday raced to contain a COVID-19 outbreak traced to a raucous 24-hour bar known for cheap liquor and big crowds, with millions facing mandatory testing and thousands under targeted lockdowns.

The outbreak of nearly 200 cases linked to the city centre Heaven Supermarket Bar, which had just reopened as curbs in Beijing eased last week, highlights how hard it will be for China to make a success of its “zero COVID” policy as much of the rest of the world opts to learn how to live with the virus.

The re-emergence of COVID infections is also raising new concerns about the outlook for the world’s second-largest economy. China is only just shaking off a heavy blow from a two-month lockdown of Shanghai, its most populous city and commercial nerve centre, that also roiled global supply chains.

Dine-in service at Beijing restaurants resumed on June 6 after more than a month in which the city of 22 million people enforced various COVID curbs. Many malls, gyms and other venues were closed, parts of the city’s public transport system were suspended, and millions were urged to work from home.

“We have to test every day now. It’s a bit of a hassle, but it’s necessary,” said a 21-year-old resident surnamed Cao, who runs a convenience store in Beijing’s largest district Chaoyang, where the bar cluster was discovered. “The virus situation has hurt our business a bit, it’s down about 20-30%.”

Chaoyang kicked off a three-day mass testing campaign among its roughly 3.5 million residents on Monday. About 10,000 close contacts of the bar’s patrons have been identified, and their residential buildings put under lockdown, and some planned school reopenings in the district have been postponed.

Queues snaked around some testing sites on Monday for more than 100 metres, according to Reuters’ eyewitnesses. Large metal barriers have been installed around several residential compounds, with people in hazmat suits spraying disinfectant

nearby.

‘IN VAIN’

Last week, as dine-in curbs were lifted, Heaven Supermarket Bar, modelled as a large self-service liquor store with chairs, sofas and tables, reclaimed its popularity among young, noisy crowds starved of socialising and parties during Beijing’s COVID restrictions.

The bar, where patrons check aisles to grab anything from local heavy spirits to Belgian beer, is known among Beijing revellers for its tables plastered with empty bottles, and customers falling asleep on sofas after midnight.

With the almost 200 COVID cases linked to the bar since June 9, authorities described the outbreak as “ferocious” and “explosive” – people infected live or work in 14 of the capital’s 16 districts, authorities have said.

Officials have not commented on the exact cause of the outbreak, nor explained why they are not yet reinstating the level of curbs seen last month.

The bar cluster was caused by loopholes and complacency in epidemic prevention, state-backed Beijing Evening News wrote in a commentary piece on Monday.

“At a time when … normality in the city is being restored, the fall of Heaven Supermarket Bar means the hardship and effort of countless people have been in vain,” the newspaper wrote.

If the outbreak grows, “consequences could be serious, and would be such that nobody would want to see,” it added.

STUCK IN ‘PARADISE’

Heaven Supermarket Bar, and other businesses nearby, including the Paradise Massage & Spa, were under lockdown, with police tape and security staff blocking the entrances.

A handful of customers and staff at the parlour would be locked in temporarily for checks, authorities said.

In all, Beijing reported 51 cases for Sunday, versus 65 the previous day, in line with a national trend of falling cases.

Shanghai, which completed mass testing for most of its 25 million residents at the weekend after lifting its lockdown and many of its curbs at the start of the month, reported 37 cases, up from 29.

As Beijing authorities wrestled with new COVID cases in April, retail sales in the capital shrank 16% year-on-year, while property sales nosedived 25%. Data for May, due later this month, is expected to be dire as well.

Before the bar cases, there had been high hopes for a rebound in June.

Source: Thai Public Broadcasting Service

In an attempt to get about 16 million people their booster COVID-19 vaccine shots, sub-district (Tambon) health promotion hospitals will provide free walk-in vaccination services to members of the public and will arrange for staff to conduct group vaccinations at factories and offices where many people want to be inoculated.

Director of the Division of Communicable Diseases Dr. Vichan Pawan said today (Monday) that the Public Health Ministry has made it as convenient as possible for the public, including the elderly and children over 6 years old, to get vaccinated, in an attempt to reach the target of 60% of the Thai population being inoculated with booster shots, as part of the plan for COVID-19 to be reclassified as an endemic disease in Thailand.

About 56.8 million people in Thailand have received at least one shots of vaccine against COVID-19 vaccine to date. A total of 28.5 million booster shots have been administered, according to the Department of Disease control. In some provinces, Dr. Vichan said that less than 20% of the population have received booster jabs.

He disclosed that 16.8 million doses of Sinovac, AstraZeneca and Pfizer vaccines are to be delivered to provincial hospitals and provincial health offices, which will be responsible for distributing them to sub-district health promotion hospitals, the amounts of which will depend on the cold storage capacities at each hospital and their capability to carry out the vaccinations.

With vaccine stocks at their disposal, he said officials at the sub-district hospitals will be able to manage the vaccines more effectively, because they won’t have to wait for vaccines to be sent from provincial storage facilities, as was previously the case.

Source: Thai Public Broadcasting Service

The Bang Sue railway station vaccination centre is offering the public free inoculations, with the Moderna vaccine, from Monday.

Those over 18-years-old can enter via Gate 1 of the station, without prior registration, from 9am until 3pm. Due to the limited supply of Moderna vaccine, the free inoculationservice will end once the supply runs out.

Those who are unvaccinated will be given Moderna as the first dose, to be followed by a Pfizer jab after a 28-day interval.

Those who have already made bookings to receive their third or fourth doses, using the Pfizer vaccine, can notify officials at the registration point if they want to change to Moderna.

They can also choose to receive their booster shots either by intramuscular injection of one or a half dose of vaccine or 0.1ml of vaccine subcutaneously.

Those who have already received four doses of vaccine and want to receive a fifth can consult doctors at the vaccination centre.

Source: Thai Public Broadcasting Service

New cases, severe cases, ventilated cases and deaths continue to show a weekly decrease. The average number of new laboratory-confirmed (PCR positive) COVID-19 cases reported per day (4.324) decreased by 16% in the past 7 days compared to the previous week (5163)

Bangkok continues to report by far the highest daily number of COVID cases (with a daily average over the past week of 1,896) but reported a 7-day average decrease of 4% The reduction in new cases has seen the average daily number of all currently ‘active’ COVID-19 cases (43,705) over the last seven days decrease by 19% compared to the previous week (54,130). Most cases continue to be monitored in hospitels, community isolation and home isolation. The average number of COVID cases occupying hospital beds per day over the past week (17,785) decreased by 15% The average number of deaths per day over the past week decreased by 18% to 29. Although this is a continuing decrease, most of these deaths would have been prevented if vaccination rates were higher, particularly in vulnerable groups.

The average daily number of severe COVID-19 cases over the past seven days (918) represented a decrease of 12% over the previous week (1,042).

The average daily number of ventilated COVID-19 cases over the past seven days (453) has decreased by 12% compared to the number the week before (517)

Although nationally new cases are decreasing, the policy of not confirming all probable cases by PCR testing, as well as the widespread use of rapid antigen tests (including those available ‘over the counter’ that may not be reported), continues to make it difficult to accurately monitor actual case counts.

Vaccination in Thailand continues to significantly reduce levels of severe illness and deaths caused by circulating COVID-19 strains. High vaccination rates also help to reduce the transmission of COVID-19. The COVID-19 situation in Thailand is improving, but there remains a long way to reduce the burden of ventilated cases and deaths from COVID-19 in Thailand. Vaccination rates remain low in some provinces and some important risk groups.

Source: World Health Organization

The average number of new laboratory-confirmed (PCR positive) community-acquired COVID-19 cases reported per day increased by only 2% in the past 7 days compared to the previous week. Although the daily reported confirmed case numbers appear to have plateaued, case numbers remain very high. In addition, not all probable (ATK positive) cases are subsequently confirmed by PCR testing. The average number of probable (ATK positive) cases reported per day over the last 7 days (21,498) increased by 6% compared to the week before (20,304) and remains very high.

Bangkok continues to report the highest daily number of COVID cases. The average number of new COVID-19 cases reported per day for Bangkok in the past week (3,370) is 4% higher than the week prior (3,231).

The average daily number of all currently ‘active’ COVID-19 cases (246,703) over the last seven days increased by 5% compared to the previous week. A greater proportion of patients continue to be monitored in hospitels, community isolation and home isolation. The average number of COVID cases occupying hospital beds per day over the past week (63,122) is 6% lower than the average daily number reported for the week prior (67,278).

An average of 78 daily deaths were reported in the past week, compared to 83 for the previous week. (a decrease of 5%)

The average daily number of severe COVID-19 cases over the past seven days (1,665) represents a 16% increase over the average number reported for the previous week (1,440). The average daily number of ventilated COVID-19 cases over the past seven days (649) also represents a 24% increase over the average number reported for the week prior (522).

The recent rise in new COVID-19 case numbers continues to cause a significant increase in the number of severe and ventilated cases in hospitals in Thailand, although the number of seriously ill COVID-19 cases still remains lower than the numbers seen in July and August 2021. There is still currently capacity in the healthcare system to admit patients.

Although Thailand has not experienced a huge upsurge of COVID-19 cases as seen in some other countries, both the policy of not confirming by PCR testing for all probable cases, as well as the widespread use of rapid antigen tests (including those available ‘over the counter’ that may not be reported) continues to make it difficult to accurately monitor the situation.

Rising COVID-19 vaccination rates in Thailand continue to significantly reduce levels of severe illness and deaths caused by circulating COVID-19 strains. High vaccination rates also help to reduce the transmission of COVID-19. However, vaccination rates are still low in some provinces and some important risk groups.

Source: World Health Organization