Thailand reports 103 new coronavirus and four new deaths; total cases at 1,978

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Thailand reports 103 new coronavirus and four new deaths; total cases at 1,978

 

FILE PHOTO: Reuters

 

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand on Friday reported 103 new coronavirus cases and four more deaths, bringing its total number cases to 1,978, a health official said.

 

There were four new deaths, bringing total fatalities to 19, said a spokesman for the government's Center for COVID-19 Situation Administration, Taweesin Wisanuyothin.

 

The new deaths were all Thai males, including a 59-year-old who worked on a train.

 

Three new deaths ages between 72 and 84 were connected to a crowded boxing match that saw a large number of infections.

 

(Reporting by Chayut Setboonsarng)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-04-03

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[Mavideol]

and back to normal 100+/- daily infections.... easy to guess based on the low quantity of tests performed....

[Guest]

Yep every day it will be 100-120 cases with max 3-4 people dead

Edited April 3, 2020 by Guest

[smedly]

1 minute ago, Mavideol said:

and back to normal 100+/- daily infections.... easy to guess based on the low quantity of tests performed....

correct , the current rate seems to around 200 tests per day of which 50% are positive, no report of testing those that have died of viral pneumonia but have not already been tested

[z42]

Only a complete moron would believe that these incredibly low numbers are close to accurate.

Even in some of the warmer European nations there are 100's dying each day.

 

I believe the human race has a debt of karma to pay to the world considering just how destructive and violent we have been to other species and the planet at large.

 

But as a Government's primary objective is to govern and guide in times of crisis, you could say the government du jour has done a wretched job of that.

 

The aftermath will be horrendous. Much worse than anything seen yet????

[Guest]

I'm going to guess 112 new cases announced tomorrow with just the 2 dead. Anyone else fancy a guess? I guarentee if 20 people guess, someone will get it bang on. 

[Jajazazajaja]

1 minute ago, z42 said:

Only a complete moron would believe that these incredibly low numbers are close to accurate.

Even in some of the warmer European nations there are 100's dying each day.

 

I believe the human race has a debt of karma to pay to the world considering just how destructive and violent we have been to other species and the planet at large.

 

But as a Government's primary objective is to govern and guide in times of crisis, you could say the government du jour has done a wretched job of that.

 

The aftermath will be horrendous. Much worse than anything seen yet????

so where are they hiding these dead bodies then?

[ThailandRyan]

12 minutes ago, mrwinner said:

Yep every day it will be 100-120 cases with max 3-4 people dead

There is no curve.....its a flat line....how many months will it need to stretch until all the numbers are played out........just pull the band aid of quickly and put the real numbers up, we are already in a state of emergency with curfews and such.  

[ThailandRyan]

3 minutes ago, Jajazazajaja said:

so where are they hiding these dead bodies then?

they have already been either buried or cremated, with the cause of death other than COVID-19, as they are not testing them after death.  The only one they tested after death was the man on the train.......

[stuhan]

I tend to agree that these daily numbers for new infections are not reliable, the deaths are probably correct,i said [probably]

Edited April 3, 2020 by stuhan

[FarFlungFalang]

5 minutes ago, Jajazazajaja said:

so where are they hiding these dead bodies then?

Cremations are the norm in Thailand which is quite convenient as you can't go checking if they had an infection and they don't have to hide the bodies.Pretty simple really.

[FarFlungFalang]

26 minutes ago, Mavideol said:

and back to normal 100+/- daily infections.... easy to guess based on the low quantity of tests performed....

The only way to achieve the predicted total of 3000 cases for April.They may also use the same counting technique for government spending i.e. 1 mil for the project 10 mil for me and so on. 

[sapson]

Which provinces which hospitals etc would be useful information.

 

Or are the daily figures already drawn in conjunction with the lottery numbers?

[Guderian]

Thailand had the first case of Covid-19 recorded outside China on 13th January. As we all know, until very recently the Thai government did little or nothing to stop the spread of the virus. Indeed, by refusing to close the borders to Chinese tourists and even encouraging them to still travel here, it seemed to be actively encouraging the virus to spread further. 

 

We've all seen in Italy, Spain and now the US how alarmingly fast the virus spreads once it gets going, with the number of new cases doubling every few days. And yet somehow that hasn't happened in Thailand, in spite of the government apparently (but hopefully unwittingly) doing its level best to maximise the chances of the pandemic spreading like wildfire here.

 

Some people, I know, will claim that there's a hidden epidemic going on in Thailand with thousands of cases every day being concealed from the public to hide the true numbers, but if that's so then I'm afraid I don't see any evidence of it. We have members with Thai partners all over the country, so where are the live reports from TV members of people collapsing coughing in the streets, or hospitals overflowing with dead bodies and medics desperately triaging patients for the few ventilators available, as is happening in northern Italy and Madrid? I don't see them, so it's not unreasonable to conclude that it's not happening, or on a much smaller scale than some people here seem to think is the case.

 

There may be a number of reasons for this, my favourite explanation is still that the virus doesn't much like the heat and humidity here and so can't transmit itself as effectively as it does in colder, drier climes. The fact that most Thais spend a lot of time outdoors rather than stuck at close quarters in a stuffy small room probably helps as well. It may also be that the original strain back in January was a mild version, while now the world is facing a different, more aggressive mutation, which hasn't has enough time to get going here yet (though the original strain here was presumably the same one that caused Wuhan to be isolated, and that was hardly a mild version given how many deaths it caused).

 

Yes, the official numbers are probably an artifact of limited testing, but they're not inconsistent with what I see when I drive around Pattaya. There's no sign of a plague in action other than the government's response in closing things down, when to judge by what's happened in Europe and the US we should be recording thousands of new cases daily and probably a thousand or more deaths. But I just don't see it happening on the ground, does anybody else?

[BobbyL]

7 minutes ago, Guderian said:

Thailand had the first case of Covid-19 recorded outside China on 13th January. As we all know, until very recently the Thai government did little or nothing to stop the spread of the virus. Indeed, by refusing to close the borders to Chinese tourists and even encouraging them to still travel here, it seemed to be actively encouraging the virus to spread further. 

 

We've all seen in Italy, Spain and now the US how alarmingly fast the virus spreads once it gets going, with the number of new cases doubling every few days. And yet somehow that hasn't happened in Thailand, in spite of the government apparently (but hopefully unwittingly) doing its level best to maximise the chances of the pandemic spreading like wildfire here.

 

Some people, I know, will claim that there's a hidden epidemic going on in Thailand with thousands of cases every day being concealed from the public to hide the true numbers, but if that's so then I'm afraid I don't see any evidence of it. We have members with Thai partners all over the country, so where are the live reports from TV members of people collapsing coughing in the streets, or hospitals overflowing with dead bodies and medics desperately triaging patients for the few ventilators available, as is happening in northern Italy and Madrid? I don't see them, so it's not unreasonable to conclude that it's not happening, or on a much smaller scale than some people here seem to think is the case.

 

There may be a number of reasons for this, my favourite explanation is still that the virus doesn't much like the heat and humidity here and so can't transmit itself as effectively as it does in colder, drier climes. The fact that most Thais spend a lot of time outdoors rather than stuck at close quarters in a stuffy small room probably helps as well. It may also be that the original strain back in January was a mild version, while now the world is facing a different, more aggressive mutation, which hasn't has enough time to get going here yet (though the original strain here was presumably the same one that caused Wuhan to be isolated, and that was hardly a mild version given how many deaths it caused).

 

Yes, the official numbers are probably an artifact of limited testing, but they're not inconsistent with what I see when I drive around Pattaya. There's no sign of a plague in action other than the government's response in closing things down, when to judge by what's happened in Europe and the US we should be recording thousands of new cases daily and probably a thousand or more deaths. But I just don't see it happening on the ground, does anybody else?

Finally, a sensible and reasoned post rather than the usual nonsense repeated on this particular topic each day. Well said.

[petedk]

5 minutes ago, Guderian said:

Thailand had the first case of Covid-19 recorded outside China on 13th January. As we all know, until very recently the Thai government did little or nothing to stop the spread of the virus. Indeed, by refusing to close the borders to Chinese tourists and even encouraging them to still travel here, it seemed to be actively encouraging the virus to spread further. 

 

We've all seen in Italy, Spain and now the US how alarmingly fast the virus spreads once it gets going, with the number of new cases doubling every few days. And yet somehow that hasn't happened in Thailand, in spite of the government apparently (but hopefully unwittingly) doing its level best to maximise the chances of the pandemic spreading like wildfire here.

 

Some people, I know, will claim that there's a hidden epidemic going on in Thailand with thousands of cases every day being concealed from the public to hide the true numbers, but if that's so then I'm afraid I don't see any evidence of it. We have members with Thai partners all over the country, so where are the live reports from TV members of people collapsing coughing in the streets, or hospitals overflowing with dead bodies and medics desperately triaging patients for the few ventilators available, as is happening in northern Italy and Madrid? I don't see them, so it's not unreasonable to conclude that it's not happening, or on a much smaller scale than some people here seem to think is the case.

 

There may be a number of reasons for this, my favourite explanation is still that the virus doesn't much like the heat and humidity here and so can't transmit itself as effectively as it does in colder, drier climes. The fact that most Thais spend a lot of time outdoors rather than stuck at close quarters in a stuffy small room probably helps as well. It may also be that the original strain back in January was a mild version, while now the world is facing a different, more aggressive mutation, which hasn't has enough time to get going here yet (though the original strain here was presumably the same one that caused Wuhan to be isolated, and that was hardly a mild version given how many deaths it caused).

 

Yes, the official numbers are probably an artifact of limited testing, but they're not inconsistent with what I see when I drive around Pattaya. There's no sign of a plague in action other than the government's response in closing things down, when to judge by what's happened in Europe and the US we should be recording thousands of new cases daily and probably a thousand or more deaths. But I just don't see it happening on the ground, does anybody else?

Interesting post. I have a feeling that you are partially correct. 

 

It's also possible that many Thais have been infected, but don't show symptoms. Maybe it's a mild infection due to, as you mention, the heat.

I have been reading news from UK newspapers and watching the news from British TV and I am surprised at the number of cases are of people returning from Thailand. Maybe they didn't pick it up here, but in the plane. I don't know, but a few weeks ago we had very few reported cases and yet all these people returning to the UK were infected.

[stephenterry]

13 minutes ago, Guderian said:

There's no sign of a plague in action other than the government's response in closing things down, when to judge by what's happened in Europe and the US we should be recording thousands of new cases daily and probably a thousand or more deaths. But I just don't see it happening on the ground, does anybody else?

All I see on my once a week shopping tour in CM is a much reduced number of like shoppers.  Same on my near empty looking Mooban. but that's not to say there could be hundreds at each of the 12 or so hospitals who are given meds and told to go home and self-isolate. Has anybody ventured into one in the last few days? 

 

The proof of the pudding could be when my local food market reopens today. I anticipate a drop in numbers, which could mean anything - although to be fair, practically every Thai is wearing a mask, is having their temperature measured at each superstore and is clearly conscious of the threat of contamination.

Edited April 3, 2020 by stephenterry
add

[ThreeEyedRaven]

Those lovely people at TAT who normally keep us up to date with new tourist number highs have been very quiet of late. Maybe their number fabricators compilers have found new employment? Must be tough to have to do the numbers down, rather than up though. 

[trainman34014]

21 minutes ago, Guderian said:

Thailand had the first case of Covid-19 recorded outside China on 13th January. As we all know, until very recently the Thai government did little or nothing to stop the spread of the virus. Indeed, by refusing to close the borders to Chinese tourists and even encouraging them to still travel here, it seemed to be actively encouraging the virus to spread further. 

 

We've all seen in Italy, Spain and now the US how alarmingly fast the virus spreads once it gets going, with the number of new cases doubling every few days. And yet somehow that hasn't happened in Thailand, in spite of the government apparently (but hopefully unwittingly) doing its level best to maximise the chances of the pandemic spreading like wildfire here.

 

Some people, I know, will claim that there's a hidden epidemic going on in Thailand with thousands of cases every day being concealed from the public to hide the true numbers, but if that's so then I'm afraid I don't see any evidence of it. We have members with Thai partners all over the country, so where are the live reports from TV members of people collapsing coughing in the streets, or hospitals overflowing with dead bodies and medics desperately triaging patients for the few ventilators available, as is happening in northern Italy and Madrid? I don't see them, so it's not unreasonable to conclude that it's not happening, or on a much smaller scale than some people here seem to think is the case.

 

There may be a number of reasons for this, my favourite explanation is still that the virus doesn't much like the heat and humidity here and so can't transmit itself as effectively as it does in colder, drier climes. The fact that most Thais spend a lot of time outdoors rather than stuck at close quarters in a stuffy small room probably helps as well. It may also be that the original strain back in January was a mild version, while now the world is facing a different, more aggressive mutation, which hasn't has enough time to get going here yet (though the original strain here was presumably the same one that caused Wuhan to be isolated, and that was hardly a mild version given how many deaths it caused).

 

Yes, the official numbers are probably an artifact of limited testing, but they're not inconsistent with what I see when I drive around Pattaya. There's no sign of a plague in action other than the government's response in closing things down, when to judge by what's happened in Europe and the US we should be recording thousands of new cases daily and probably a thousand or more deaths. But I just don't see it happening on the ground, does anybody else?

I think the numbers of dead are probably fairly accurate because up here in The North there is no evidence to suggest mass deaths occuring; our two local burn sites are no busier than normal at this time of year; indeed, less burning if anything than normal times.   Also there is no widespread panic in the community and i think there would be if numbers were very high in contractions and /or death. Our local Hospitals, both State and Private are not dealing with a lot more 'business' than they normally do.   The Wife is talking to many friends online around different parts of the country and nobody as of this morning is reporting problems so far.

 

I think a lot of people on here would love to see Thailand reduced to piles of dead bodies in order that they can all crow ''We told you so''  !

Edited April 3, 2020 by trainman34014

[wasabi]

28 minutes ago, Guderian said:

Thailand had the first case of Covid-19 recorded outside China on 13th January. As we all know, until very recently the Thai government did little or nothing to stop the spread of the virus. Indeed, by refusing to close the borders to Chinese tourists and even encouraging them to still travel here, it seemed to be actively encouraging the virus to spread further. 

 

We've all seen in Italy, Spain and now the US how alarmingly fast the virus spreads once it gets going, with the number of new cases doubling every few days. And yet somehow that hasn't happened in Thailand, in spite of the government apparently (but hopefully unwittingly) doing its level best to maximise the chances of the pandemic spreading like wildfire here.

 

Some people, I know, will claim that there's a hidden epidemic going on in Thailand with thousands of cases every day being concealed from the public to hide the true numbers, but if that's so then I'm afraid I don't see any evidence of it. We have members with Thai partners all over the country, so where are the live reports from TV members of people collapsing coughing in the streets, or hospitals overflowing with dead bodies and medics desperately triaging patients for the few ventilators available, as is happening in northern Italy and Madrid? I don't see them, so it's not unreasonable to conclude that it's not happening, or on a much smaller scale than some people here seem to think is the case.

 

There may be a number of reasons for this, my favourite explanation is still that the virus doesn't much like the heat and humidity here and so can't transmit itself as effectively as it does in colder, drier climes. The fact that most Thais spend a lot of time outdoors rather than stuck at close quarters in a stuffy small room probably helps as well. It may also be that the original strain back in January was a mild version, while now the world is facing a different, more aggressive mutation, which hasn't has enough time to get going here yet (though the original strain here was presumably the same one that caused Wuhan to be isolated, and that was hardly a mild version given how many deaths it caused).

 

Yes, the official numbers are probably an artifact of limited testing, but they're not inconsistent with what I see when I drive around Pattaya. There's no sign of a plague in action other than the government's response in closing things down, when to judge by what's happened in Europe and the US we should be recording thousands of new cases daily and probably a thousand or more deaths. But I just don't see it happening on the ground, does anybody else?

I agree with every word you wrote but it is only our opinion and the truth may never be known. For me it makes no difference at this point anyway. I will continue wearing my mini-hazmat attire every time I go out, social distancing and hand washing regardless of the numbers released until the case numbers go down worldwide. I am presently going for an hour walk every morning on nearly deserted streets and otherwise staying inside, but if the Thai government takes that away through a 24 hour lockdown I will exercise inside. Of course I hate this situation but I am seeing no reason to panic... yet. 

 

In my opinion the most serious problem here is an economic one.

Edited April 3, 2020 by wasabi

[FarFlungFalang]

25 minutes ago, Guderian said:

There may be a number of reasons for this, my favourite explanation is still that the virus doesn't much like the heat and humidity here and so can't transmit itself as effectively as it does in colder, drier climes. The fact that most Thais spend a lot of time outdoors rather than stuck at close quarters in a stuffy small room probably helps as well.

Would it not be ironic if you were correct and that the order to stay home cooped up with others in fact worsened the spread?

[Jajazazajaja]

42 minutes ago, FarFlungFalang said:

Cremations are the norm in Thailand which is quite convenient as you can't go checking if they had an infection and they don't have to hide the bodies.Pretty simple really.

I’m just not buying that there are hundreds if not thousands of deaths that are being hushed up with hurried cremations.

[ICELANDMAN]

45 minutes ago, ThailandRyan said:

There is no curve.....its a flat line....how many months will it need to stretch until all the numbers are played out........just pull the band aid of quickly and put the real numbers up, we are already in a state of emergency with curfews and such.  

Why you expect a curve, the straight line is very good for me and also for the government otherwise the fire cover extends 24 by 24

[realfunster]

I won't quote Guderian's full post again, just save some space, but agree with many of the comments raised.

 

At the end of the day, we are in the middle of this pandemic and it is, by definition, 'novel'.

So, any assertions made are in reality best estimates at this point.

 

In particular I think there is some mileage in the following  :

- There is already some preliminary medical research indicating transmission rates are reasonably reduced in hot (check) and humid (check) weather environments. (This has been referenced and discussed elsewhere in the numerous CV threads).

- Most people are somewhat cynical on the government figures but where is the evidence of any concealed mass outbreak? I do not believe they would be able to brush this under the carpet in the current media age.

- What is a known fact is that the human respiratory system is weaker in cold weather and is more susceptible to infection. In addition, it is thought that going through winter generally reduces the overall strength of the immune system. Hence the annual seasonal winter flu season experienced in many parts of the world.

[spermwhale]

1 hour ago, smedly said:

correct , the current rate seems to around 200 tests per day of which 50% are positive, no report of testing those that have died of viral pneumonia but have not already been tested

Sadly we don't know how many tests they re doing everyday partly because the Thai press don't do their job and ask hard questions. I worked at both the Nation and the Bangkok Post and I know how lazy the reporters are there. They never dig and they are spoon fed information and don't dare put anybody on the spot with hard questions. 

Since they don't do their jobs properly and hold the authorities' collective feet to the fire the Thai people and us expats are woefully uninformed of the scope here. 

 

[SkyFax]

33 minutes ago, Jajazazajaja said:

I’m just not buying that there are hundreds if not thousands of deaths that are being hushed up with hurried cremations.

There was a report a few days ago in the NY Times on the hospital medical staff in NY City where a nurse said: 

 

"Patients struggling to breathe with lungs that sounded like sandpaper had crowded the hospital."

 

I don't think that could be occurring in Thai hospitals with the Thai hospital staff complicit in saying that this type condition was something other than the COVID-19.

 

 

Edited April 3, 2020 by SkyFax

[spermwhale]

32 minutes ago, Jajazazajaja said:

I’m just not buying that there are hundreds if not thousands of deaths that are being hushed up with hurried cremations.

That's right. There is no way they would be able to cover it up ... not with every Thai hooked on social media. We all know how much time Thais spend on Facebook and Instagram. If there were overflowing hospitals and people dying en masse, the government would not be able to cover it up and there would be mass outcry from the people, at least online. It would not go unnoticed. 

[mixed]

1 hour ago, Guderian said:

There may be a number of reasons for this, my favourite explanation is still that the virus doesn't much like the heat and humidity here and so can't transmit itself as effectively as it does in colder, drier climes. The fact that most Thais spend a lot of time outdoors rather than stuck at close quarters in a stuffy small room probably helps as well.

As further evidence of this look at the transmission from the air con boxing stadium, with spectators jammed in and yelling. Compare this to the outside demonstrations in late Feb and mid March, everybody wore a mask and it was outside. I haven't heard of any transmission from these demos.

 

Is anyone aware how many cases have transmitted outside in open air? Another factor is culture, Thais don't hug, kiss or even shake hands. They don't talk much on public transport and are generally reserved.

 

The figures may not be accurate, but if it was really bad we'd be seeing evidence. For example during the drug war friends reported gun shots at night and stories of BIL etc. being shot.

Edited April 3, 2020 by mixed
add

[Forza2002]

When you go in the detail by Province it is easy for all to see that the number of positive cases is being under reported. Casing point being Isaan. Using the Dept. Of Disease Control website http://covid19.ddc.moph.go.th/en I looked at the number of confirmed CV19 cases for the 10 largest Isaan Provinces. The numbers look incredulous, E.G. Khon Kaen, Sakon Nakhon, especially given the mass exodus of jobless Thais from Bangkok, Pattaya etc back to their family villages and the lack of controlled social distancing. 

 

No doubt Governors of certain Provinces are under declaring the numbers to garner "brownie points"..

 

Edited April 3, 2020 by Forza2002

[pantsonfire]

It might also be the fact that people might have mild symptons so its not really added to the count.

 

Look around the world, you dont see pictures of people suffering etc.  Its more of a case of the critical rather than the mild.  I suspect.  Add in the mild symptons of people who have covid who might think its flu, then i would expect it would have the true number of infections.