Thailand officially enters 5th wave of Covid-19, experts warn
Department of Medical Services chief Dr. Somsak Ankasil announced on Wednesday that Thailand has officially entered the fifth wave of Covid-19 infections.
The latest wave, according to the Department of Disease Control, could possibly result in 30,000 new cases per day in a worst-case scenario.
Such levels of Omicron-fuelled infection would overwhelm hospital capacity, which stands at 52,300 beds across the whole country and 25,828 in metropolitan Bangkok, The Nation reported.
Dr. Somsak said that a surge in cases would trigger a switch to Home Isolation (HI) and Community Isolation (CI) as the first line of treatment. Only severe cases would then be sent to hospitals.
The expert also predicted a high infection rate among children, most of whom have not been vaccinated. However, most infected children would escape severe symptoms unless they had an underlying disease, he added.
The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) is preparing Community Isolation beds for children and families in six zones, with at least 50 beds per site, the report added.
Somsak also called on the Queen Sirikit National Institute of Child Health to prepare stocks of antiviral favipiravir to treat children across the country.
Source: The Nation
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