Thailand reports 127 new COVID-19 cases, and one death

[webfact]

127 new Covid-19 cases take Thailand's total to 1,651

By The Nation

 

 

The total number of Covid-19 cases in Thailand rose to 1,651 with 127 new infections confirmed over a 24-hour period while one person died, Taweesin Visanuyothin, spokesman of the government's Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration, said on Tuesday (March 31).

 

The cases can be divided into three groups.

 

The first group of 62 are connected to cluster cases -- four people had attended a boxing event in a stadium, 11 had worked and been to entertainment venues, and 47 had had close contact with others previously confirmed as infected

 

The second group comprised 49 people of whom 23 had just returned from overseas (17 Thais and six foreigners ), nine were working in crowded areas or close to foreigners, three are medical staff, six went to crowded areas, and eight got infected from other sources.

 

The last group of 16 are being investigated for the source of the infection.

 

Meanwhile, 215 people have fully recovered and returned home.

 

A 48-year-old male musician, who also had diabetes, cancer and hepatitis, died of respiratory failure.

 

As of March 31, the total number of confirmed cases in the country stood at 1,651 -- 1,299 are under treatment, of whom 23 are in a critical condition -- 342 have recovered and been discharged, and there have been 10 deaths.

 

Of the confirmed cases, 1407 are Thais and 244 are other nationals.

 

A great majority of the 127 new cases are in Bangkok -- 74, followed by Nonthaburi, Phuket, and Yala (six each); Nakhon Pathum 3; Pathum Thani, Samut Sakorn, Si Sa Ket, and Uttaradit (two each); and one patient each in Chonburi, Songkhla, Chiang Mai, Ubon Ratchathani, Surin, Prachuap Khiri Khan, Sa Kaeo, Phitsanulok, Nong Bua Lamphu, and Chumphon provinces.

 

Thirteen people are under investigation

 

Globally, there are more than 750,000 confirmed cases in 199 countries and around 37,000 deaths.

 

Source: http://www.nationthailand.com/news/30385125?utm_source=homepage&utm_medium=internal_referral

 

-- © Copyright The Nation Thailand 2020-03-31

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[Solidpoo]

With social distancing 100+ will probably be the norm for the next few weeks. 

 

Without, the numbers will increase exponentially. 

 

Might be too late. Case in point, Italy. It's been awhile since their lockdown and numbers there are still growing. 

[darksidedog]

Shame to see numbers still above 100 per day, but encouraging that it isn't getting larger each day by the amounts other countries are seeing.

[Yadon Toploy]

Pointless without knowing the number of tests being administered. 

[kevin612]

I would like to see one more number which is the active cases of covid 19. Because some people recovered from Coronavirus.

[Aland]

2 minutes ago, kevin612 said:

I would like to see one more number which is the active cases of covid 19. Because some people recovered from Coronavirus.

This website gives a pretty good account of total cases and recovered cases.

https://ddc.moph.go.th/viralpneumonia/eng/news.php

[GordyS]

They are testing roughly 5/600 a day

The numbers can't change while they do so little testing.

Only so many results are released each day, approx 500

100 or so positive and 400 negative.

 

Edited March 31, 2020 by GordyS

[lopburi3]

28 minutes ago, Solidpoo said:

With social distancing 100+ will probably be the norm for the next few weeks. 

 

Without, the numbers will increase exponentially. 

 

Might be too late. Case in point, Italy. It's been awhile since their lockdown and numbers there are still growing. 

Actually daily infections in Italy are going down - today was lowest in 2 weeks.

[RichardColeman]

10 minutes ago, GordyS said:

Only so many results are released each day, approx 500

100 or so positive and 400 negative.

by that postulating 20% of the population are infected

[lopburi3]

Just now, RichardColeman said:

by that postulating 20% of the population are infected

Totally unreliable stats as they are testing those seeking treatment (who believe they have COVID-19) rather then general population.

[cornishcarlos]

35 minutes ago, Yadon Toploy said:

Pointless without knowing the number of tests being administered. 

 

Well 127 today, obviously ????

[Guderian]

Good news, it's actually gone down a bit from the trend of the last five days. I know the numbers are unreliable, but look at what people are saying about the statistics in the UK and US, they're no better than Thailand's. To be honest, given the uncertainty around the virus and its effects, I think I'd rather be in Thailand with a steady increase of 120-140/day than in a place where "better" data show that they're doubling every two or three days.

 

I know, just call me an ostrich, lol.

 

[Katy Gorice]

the magical 100 a day ...

 

how many would they get if they actually would test 1000 - 10.000 people a day

[ThailandRyan]

4 minutes ago, Guderian said:

Good news, it's actually gone down a bit from the trend of the last five days. I know the numbers are unreliable, but look at what people are saying about the statistics in the UK and US, they're no better than Thailand's. To be honest, given the uncertainty around the virus and its effects, I think I'd rather be in Thailand with a steady increase of 120-140/day than in a place where "better" data show that they're doubling every two or three days.

 

I know, just call me an ostrich, lol.

 

I guess Thailand flattened the curve without ever having one.......and if you believe that well then I have some ocean front property in Nevada if you want, sell it to ya cheap.....

[Katy Gorice]

Italy might count "normal" deaths as corona

 

total opposite from thailand, where corona deaths are masked by viral pneumonia

 

FEAR PEOPLE .... give up your rights

 

also your rights to work, for fun, for ...

[wasabi]

The daily numbers tells me nothing how many are infected since so few are probably being tested but it does offer insight how virulent the virus is in Thailand. Most likely only those exposed to a known virus carrier or severe symptoms are being tested. Most likely hundreds of thousands already contracted the virus with mild or no symptoms and recovered. The social distancing is important but with so many crammed on buses or simply ignoring these orders it alone won't solve the problem.  In the end it'll be herd immunity for Thailand since it is a collectivist society that is not willing to break tradition even for a deadly virus. It seems they are flattening the herd immunity curve with the shop closures but the lazy behavior of many to follow directives is offset by climate and mask usage.

[madmitch]

Interesting table above. I saw it on Twitter so have no idea of the original source. It shows that not only are only a few hundred people being tested each day but the backlog for result is growing every day. If my maths is correct 5295 people were tested in the eleven days from 16th March and, assuming people tested before that do have their results by now, 3621 of those people were still waiting for their results on 26th March, demonstrating that not only are testing numbers very low but the time taken to get results is much too slow.

 

Im not putting too much belief into these figures as obviously the percentages confirmed are not confirmed against the numbers tested that day, and the pending growth also looks a little odd, especially between 16th and 18th March. But theyve come from somewhere.

 

Meanwhile the UK is criticised for not making its target of 10,000 daily tests!

[AgentSmith]

People should realize that most countries don't do large scale testing because those test kits are simply scarce. South Korea is a notable exception as they've been doing 15.000 tests per day on average.

 

These daily numbers still matter as they're a good indicator of how many people end up in hospitals. As long as it remains stable day to day that's a huge deal because it means the virus isn't spreading fast. But of course there's also a delay of about a week. If a week from now it's still around 100 daily then all those people leaving Bangkok for their hometowns haven't spread the virus.

 

Also the current covid-19 test isn't 100% reliable. There are false negatives, especially in cases where someone has a low count of virus particles. There will be a blood plasma test in a couple weeks that checks for specific SARS2 antibodies. That'll be much more reliable, and useful because it also checks if you've contracted the virus say months ago. As soon as it goes live I will surely have myself and my family tested.

[Tropposurfer]

32 minutes ago, Katy Gorice said:

the magical 100 a day ...

 

how many would they get if they actually would test 1000 - 10.000 people a day

If they did this in Europe or the US wonder what the numbers of positive result would be then!!!

[fcbkk]

6 minutes ago, Tropposurfer said:

If they did this in Europe or the US wonder what the numbers of positive result would be then!!!

 

Germany apparently is testing around 500k per week already and aiming to ramp up to 200k per day by end of April. 

[Somtamnication]

I can say that a person that I know had the high fever and runny nose. Went to Wachira to test and they turned her away as they can only test 40 people a day. 'nuff said.

[FarFlungFalang]

16 minutes ago, AgentSmith said:

These daily numbers still matter as they're a good indicator of how many people end up in hospitals

You could also get this number from hospital admissions records without testing.If the tests are limited you still would not no why people are ending up in hospital infecting all and sundry.That's why massive testing works so one can isolate the infected.By hiding the number of infections Thailand looks like it's dealing well with the virus meanwhile thousands die of pneumonia and not covid 19.Amazing Thailand.

[AgentSmith]

2 minutes ago, FarFlungFalang said:

You could also get this number from hospital admissions records without testing.If the tests are limited you still would not no why people are ending up in hospital infecting all and sundry.That's why massive testing works so one can isolate the infected.By hiding the number of infections Thailand looks like it's dealing well with the virus meanwhile thousands die of pneumonia and not covid 19.Amazing Thailand.

You did read the rest of my post did you? What you describe is the case in most countries, western countries included. There simply aren't enough test kits available except in a few countries that stocked up well in advance. This is unfortunate but it will also become a non-issue as soon as blood plasma antibody tests become available. We all just need a little patience, that's all.

[CLW]

Those numbers are becoming meaningless day by day.

 

Actually, they should be labelled as new results that we could do with our limited testing capacities. 

 

I talked with my mum, who works in healthcare in Germany, she said people will probably wake up in a few weeks when the army has to dispose the dead bodies as it has happened in Italy.

[AgentSmith]

3 minutes ago, CLW said:

Those numbers are becoming meaningless day by day.

Why?

 

3 minutes ago, CLW said:

Actually, they should be labelled as new results that we could do with our limited testing capacities. 

What does that mean?

 

3 minutes ago, CLW said:

I talked with my mum, who works in healthcare in Germany, she said people will probably wake up in a few weeks when the army has to dispose the dead bodies as it has happened in Italy.

Then I'm really curious to her analysis of the data because compared to other European countries Germany is doing extremely well with few cases in hospitals. What reasons does your mum have to think this is gonna take a turn for the worst?

[offset]

12 minutes ago, CLW said:

Those numbers are becoming meaningless day by day.

 

Actually, they should be labelled as new results that we could do with our limited testing capacities. 

 

I talked with my mum, who works in healthcare in Germany, she said people will probably wake up in a few weeks when the army has to dispose the dead bodies as it has happened in Italy.

That coming from a country that have just had a nearly 22% increase in deaths in 1 day

[AgentSmith]

5 minutes ago, offset said:

That coming from a country that have just had a nearly 22% increase in deaths in 1 day

Source?

[Isaanbiker]

1 hour ago, cornishcarlos said:

 

Well 127 today, obviously ????

And of course, it's got nothing to do with the bar workers who went home.

 

  I've seen how the local hospital is trying to fight the disease. They're not doing enough, in my opinion.

 

I've seen hospital employees shooting photos standing next to each other. None of them wearing a mask or gloves.

 

And that's only to post that on Social media? 

 

And they do not have rooms to separate all the infectious diseases. 

 

That, on the other hand, seems to be the right mixture for the total chaos shortly. 

 

    

[kingstonkid]

A 'better way of looking at the numbers would be 

HOW MANY TESTED POSITIVE FOR THE VIRUS.

HOW MANY WERE TOLD TO SELF QUARANTINE AND JUST STAY HOME.

HOW MANY WERE HOSPITALIZED.

HOW MANY DIED including their age and any other med issues they had.

 

The big problem that we have here is that Thais will not stop travelling and the Thai government will not make a national call for anything.   

 

The only person we here from is that GREAT INGENUE ANUTIN.  I would love to see the PM do what TRUMP is doing and have a daily or every other day briefing with REAL MEDICAL EXPERTS AVAILABLE TO ANSWER QUESTIONS.  Without the PM or the government saying you can not ask that.

 

For instance my GF works in a hospital and had heard nothing about Hydrocloriquin and the  the studies being done.

 

We can not treat people with monks and prayers and aspirin.  

 

Doctors need guidance adn they need a national team that is working on the cure not waiting for the US or Chin (god forbid) to bring them the cure.

 

[AgentSmith]

7 minutes ago, DrTuner said:

I think you're mixing social distancing with quarantine. Social distancing simply means staying a minimum of a couple of meters away from others.

 

It does imply closures of places where it's not feasible to keep the distance, but not isolation. Those are separate more drastic measures on top of the distancing.

That, and we can't emphasize enough that there are weeks between measures taken by governments and a resulting drop in death toll. Battling an epidemic requires long term thinking, planning and patience to be effective.

Edited March 31, 2020 by AgentSmith