Thailand reclassifies COVID-19 after declining cases in the past months and will be put to the same list as Aids, dengue fever, and bird flu.
Thailand is set to reclassify COVID-19 from a “dangerous infectious disease” to an “infectious disease under watch” as the country is steadily improving according to Deputy Government Spokesperson Traisuree Traisoranakul on Wednesday, September 21.
Following the two announcements from the Thai Ministry of Public Health of downgrading COVID-19 due to the decline of infections, severe symptoms and deaths inside and outside of Thailand, the Centre for COVID-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) is expected to announce a series of new measures this Friday.
The new mandate removes the virus from the list of “Dangerous Communicable Diseases” such as Zika fever, SARS and MERS, and will move it to “Communicable Diseases Under Surveillance” starting on October 1.
Some 57 diseases are currently included on the same list, including AIDS, dengue fever, and bird flu.
“Furthermore, Thailand now has an adequate stock of vaccines and drugs, while the majority of the population has been vaccinated against the virus,” said the announcements.
“The Public Health Ministry therefore announced the new status of Covid-19 that reflects the current situation, so that related regulations and disease control measures can be adjusted accordingly.”
As seen on Thailand's COVID-19 Information Centre, new infections in the past 24 hours were 1,129, with 13 deaths and 934 recoveries, totaling the infections so far this year with 2,452,097 and death toll this year at 10,970.
Dr Yong Poovorawan, chief of the Chulalongkorn University’s Centre of Excellence in Clinical Virology, wrote on Facebook that the number of cases will continue to drop until the end of the year.
He warned however, that the virus will strike again when the cool weather begins in January next year, though not severe, and strongly recommends that vulnerable groups get four shots of the vaccine while healthy adults under 60 should get at least three shots.
The CCSA will then meet on Friday to talk about the situation and discuss how these will be implemented by the government and private sector to ensure a smooth transition towards normalcy in the post-pandemic era.
Tags: #COVID19, #pandemic, #Thailand