Health ministry, WHO decode Thailand’s successful COVID-19 response

[snoop1130]

Health ministry, WHO decode Thailand’s successful COVID-19 response

 

 

BANGKOK (NNT) - The World Health Organization has highlighted several notable accomplishments by health agencies in Thailand in their COVID-19 response, urging Thailand to work together with the WHO to create a joint database and extend outbreak surveillance, in preparation for a possible new wave of infections.

 

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Public Health Anutin Charnvirakul, along with the WHO Representative to Thailand Dr Daniel Kertesz, announced outcomes from the the Joint Intra-Action Review of Thailand’s COVID-19 response between the WHO, the Ministry of Public Health and other agencies, which was convened in July.

 

Dr Daniel said the review’s recommendations focus on enhancing coordination, improving surveillance and data systems for COVID-19, and strengthening and protecting the health workforce.

 

The Intra-Action Review (IAR) was held to review COVID-19 response operations in the first six months of the pandemic in Thailand, according to WHO’s recommendations. The IAR provided recommendations to help strengthen Thailand’s response to COVID-19 such as a national-level evaluation, community participation, disease surveillance, investigation, and contact tracing, as well as laboratory management.

 

The WHO Thailand representative said that addressing these recommendations quickly will ensure an even more effective response to future waves of COVID-19 in Thailand.

 

The Minister of Public Health said Thailand is the first country to join IAR, which indicates the country’s robust public health system, inclusive availability of health resources, swift management at hospitals, and the preparedness of local disease investigation teams as key factors in the country’s successful COVID-19 response.

 

-- © Copyright NNT 2020-10-15

 

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[Justgrazing]

That was like the literary equivalent of eating a polystyrene sandwich .. 

bland and meaningless don't do it justice .. 

An' if in the eyes of clown jester health minister they are blowing smoke up his jacksie for perceived " success " why ain'tt he got a mask on .. 

You'd think this of all photo shoots would be the one where he wouldn't openly demonstrate cluelessness .. 

[DaLa]

If Thailand's response is so fantastic then why don't the WHO simply notify countries still buried deep in the problem what the solution (s) is and the world can then get on about its business.

 

I use to work for an organisation that developed its own vocabulary and presented it in a way that confused outsiders, all to benefit its own existence. 

 

What on earth is the WHO set up / funded for, other than to come up with answers and a strategy to deal with this. It should be their main and only focus presently.

[FarFlungFalang]

41 minutes ago, snoop1130 said:

Health ministry, WHO decode Thailand’s successful COVID-19 response

Nice headline but the article doesn't mention that no testing is the best way to keep infection numbers low in Thailand.You can't decode information if there is no information to decode.

46 minutes ago, snoop1130 said:

Dr Daniel said the review’s recommendations focus on enhancing coordination, improving surveillance and data systems for COVID-19, and strengthening and protecting the health workforce.

Even the good WHO Doctor seems to be suggesting that some surveillance and data would be helpful.

[Dukeleto]

I had said it quite a few times and I’ll repeat myself again. No testing for Covid-19 = No Covid-19 infections. It’s an incredibly simple equation. Without this data to prove Thailand actually controlled the virus or simply swept it under the carpet by not carrying out widespread public testing which has been done in first world countries which subsequently had very high cases and continue to do so...because they keep testing. With Thailand’s apparent lack of experience in treating the virus I personally would prefer not to be infected in Thailand and rather somewhere else where doctors have become experts in treating this disease as is evidenced by the massive drop in the death rate for people infected compared with the early stages of the pandemic at the beginning of the year. This crucial step in learning about and treating the virus has been lost by Thailand due to their inability to provide widespread testing or their desire not to provide it. What would be interesting for me is if deaths due to respiratory illness has increased this year In Thailand from a year on year perspective. Again it’s entirely possible that data too has been misrepresented or simply filed under unknown or natural causes due to the age of the patient. In any case as with everything in the land of nod you are unlikely to find the truth.

Edited October 15, 2020 by Dukeleto

[from the home of CC]

came down to lives over $, and you can see where most of the rest of world went..

(and their economies are still getting flushed lol)

Edited October 16, 2020 by from the home of CC

[FarFlungFalang]

20 minutes ago, Dukeleto said:

What would be interesting for me is if deaths due to respiratory illness has increased this year In Thailand from a year on year perspective.

Earlier in the year there was published data indicating 3600 deaths from unknown viral pneumonia before that data was stopped being published. 

[nobodysfriend]

I think that a good part of Thailand's ' success ' in the fight against Covid is due to the fact that the strain of the virus that was , and probably still is , present here is much less contagious than the strain present in Europe and the Americas . The humid climate in Thailand might have helped a lot as well ...

 

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-73554-7

 

" Several SARS-CoV-2 gene mutations have been reported. In the current study associations between SARS-CoV-2 gene variation and exposure history during the first wave of the outbreak in Thailand between January and May 2020 were investigated. '

" The phylogenetics of the 40 samples were clustered into L, GH, GR, O and T types. T types were predominant in Bangkok during the first local outbreak centered at a boxing stadium and entertainment venues in March 2020. Imported cases were infected with various types, including L, GH, GR and O. In southern Thailand introductions of different genotypes were identified at different times."

 

http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2020-07/13/c_139209806.htm

 

"BANGKOK, July 13 (Xinhua) -- Thailand's top virologist on Monday warned that the COVID-19 mutated G strain, found amongst Thai returnees from abroad, is highly contagious .

The mutated G strain which is prevalent in the United States and Europe, is more contagious than the S strain, said Dr. Yong Poovorawan, medical professor at the Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University. "Thailand identified the S strain when COVID-19 pandemic first started in the country, however the doctors have now discovered a more dangerous strain amongst Thai returnees. They are the mutated G strain which still is prevalent in the United States and Europe."

Yong, who is part of the COVID-19 leading team under the Ministry of Health, said that should Thailand experience a second wave of infections, the G strain virus, or G614, will be dominant, because it is about 10 times more contagious than the S strain originally identified in Asia."

 

 

The conclusion is , that Thailand was just lucky , but did some right steps to prevent the spread of the virus at the right time , too .

 

It would be stupid to risk this success now by opening the borders to welcome foreign tourists now .

Edited October 16, 2020 by nobodysfriend

[pacovl46]

If doing next to no testing and therefore having really low numbers qualifies as good response, then yeah, they did really good! 

 

[cmarshall]

3 minutes ago, nobodysfriend said:

I think that a good part of Thailand's ' success ' in the fight against Covid is due to the fact that the strain of the virus that was , and probably still is , present here is much less contagious than the strain present in Europe and the Americas . The humid climate in Thailand might have helped a lot as well ...

 

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-73554-7

 

" Several SARS-CoV-2 gene mutations have been reported. In the current study associations between SARS-CoV-2 gene variation and exposure history during the first wave of the outbreak in Thailand between January and May 2020 were investigated. '

" The phylogenetics of the 40 samples were clustered into L, GH, GR, O and T types. T types were predominant in Bangkok during the first local outbreak centered at a boxing stadium and entertainment venues in March 2020. Imported cases were infected with various types, including L, GH, GR and O. In southern Thailand introductions of different genotypes were identified at different times."

 

The conclusion is , that Thailand was just lucky , but did some right steps to prevent the spread of the virus at the right time , too .

 

It would be stupid to risk this success now by opening the borders to welcome foreign tourists now .

Where do you get the idea that the virus mutation that invaded Thailand was less contagious than any other version?   The abstract of the paper you quote says, 

 

No clinical parameters were significantly associated with differences in genotype.

 

It goes on to say, "Similar to China, the incidence of COVID-19 in Thailand decreased dramatically when the Thai government prohibited social gatherings after the first wave of the rapid spread of SARS-CoV-2."

 

So, it looks like Thailand did not benefit from a less contagious version of the virus and that its effective control of the epidemic was due to effective public health measure. 

 

 

[nobodysfriend]

33 minutes ago, cmarshall said:

Where do you get the idea that the virus mutation that invaded Thailand was less contagious than any other version?   The abstract of the paper you quote says, 

 

No clinical parameters were significantly associated with differences in genotype.

 

It goes on to say, "Similar to China, the incidence of COVID-19 in Thailand decreased dramatically when the Thai government prohibited social gatherings after the first wave of the rapid spread of SARS-CoV-2."

 

So, it looks like Thailand did not benefit from a less contagious version of the virus and that its effective control of the epidemic was due to effective public health measure. 

 

 

May be you read before you write ...?

 

The mutated G strain which is prevalent in the United States and Europe, is more contagious than the S strain, said Dr. Yong Poovorawan, medical professor at the Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University. "Thailand identified the S strain when COVID-19 pandemic first started in the country, however the doctors have now discovered a more dangerous strain amongst Thai returnees. They are the mutated G strain which still is prevalent in the United States and Europe."

...that should Thailand experience a second wave of infections, the G strain virus, or G614, will be dominant, because it is about 10 times more contagious than the S strain originally identified in Asia."

 

Not the right time to open the borders .

Edited October 16, 2020 by nobodysfriend

[owl sees all]

IMO, the Thai success has been that it didn't roll out a C-19 general test that has proved to five 97.3% incorrect results.

 

Thailand, probably without even realising it, had the appropriate response for a corona virus, that rears its head every few years. Unfortunately it (Thailand) then got caught up in compromised WHO vagueness, and then in western response initiatives, that have proved disastrous for many of them, and also ineffective against the virus itself.

[Dialemco]

What a lot of nonsense WHO advised against wearing masks and did not disclose the existence of the viras until it was to late. Thailand may have been lucky reporting low infection rates but not so lucky with the decimation of its economy and mass unemployment 

[cmarshall]

37 minutes ago, nobodysfriend said:

May be you read before you write ...?

 

The mutated G strain which is prevalent in the United States and Europe, is more contagious than the S strain, said Dr. Yong Poovorawan, medical professor at the Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University. "Thailand identified the S strain when COVID-19 pandemic first started in the country, however the doctors have now discovered a more dangerous strain amongst Thai returnees. They are the mutated G strain which still is prevalent in the United States and Europe."

...that should Thailand experience a second wave of infections, the G strain virus, or G614, will be dominant, because it is about 10 times more contagious than the S strain originally identified in Asia."

 

Not the right time to open the borders .

So, the research paper is internally inconsistent.  Also, even if the G strain from the US is more contagious than the S strain from China, the S strain was nevertheless sufficiently contagious to infect first Wuhan and then Hubei Province and yet Thailand did not experience a Wuhan-style outbreak.

 

It is certainly not in my own interest for Thailand to open its borders, but the loss of jobs and income is severe.  Also, if Sars-Cov2 becomes endemic then societies will have to find a way to live with it, with or without a vaccine.  

Edited October 16, 2020 by cmarshall

[FarFlungFalang]

28 minutes ago, cmarshall said:

So, it looks like Thailand did not benefit from a less contagious version of the virus and that its effective control of the epidemic was due to effective public health measure. 

Either that or they didn't do much testing making sure it was out of reach for the average citizen.Their public health measures were not much different to other countries.

[vandeventer]

WHO sounds like they are disparate for money ever since the USA pulled it's money out because of it's close links to the CCP. Little do the know Thailand is broke! So go find a rich country that will believe all your BS.

[cmarshall]

4 minutes ago, FarFlungFalang said:

Either that or they didn't do much testing making sure it was out of reach for the average citizen.Their public health measures were not much different to other countries.

But the hospitals were never filled to capacity as they have been in parts of the US, Lombardy, the UK, etc.  So far, I don't know anyone in Thailand who knows anyone who caught Covid.  It's true that Thailand didn't do mass testing like S. Korea, but if you do focused testing and then trace contacts you can control the outbreak without doing mass testing.  This is the story in countries other than China and S. Korea who controlled it without mass testing, such as Taiwan and Japan.

 

Countries like the US and UK failed to do mass testing and also failed to do contact tracing effectively with the subsequent disastrous results.

[Brunolem]

1 hour ago, Dukeleto said:

I had said it quite a few times and I’ll repeat myself again. No testing for Covid-19 = No Covid-19 infections. It’s an incredibly simple equation.

A simple equation for simple minds. 

 

If Thailand was full of untested positive cases, you would have to assume that all of them would be asymptomatic, otherwise contagion would send thousands clogging the hospitals... which we don't see. 

 

Now, you could say that not only Thailand is not testing its population, but it is also somehow hiding all its covid 19 victims. 

 

Nonsense, especially in these times of instant communication via multiple social networks. 

[4MyEgo]

14 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

improving surveillance

Yep

[4MyEgo]

1 hour ago, Dukeleto said:

I had said it quite a few times and I’ll repeat myself again. No testing for Covid-19 = No Covid-19 infections.

Actually Thailand not knowing of a recent CDC report saved itself a lot of money on not testing people en masse as the CDC in its own words recently said that the tests can't detect Covid-19, so tests are fake, hmmmm, could that be to make people thinking that there is an actual pandemic when most people test positive to some other form of a past cold/flu ?.

 

“Since no quantified virus isolates of the 2019-nCoV are currently available, assays [diagnostic tests] designed for detection of the 2019-nCoV RNA were tested with characterized stocks of in vitro transcribed full length RNA…”

As Rappoport says,

“Since that is the case, that there are no quantified virus isolates, how can one be sure of what is being determined as COVID-19 is, in fact, COVID-19?”

 

https://principia-scientific.com/even-cdc-now-admits-no-gold-standard-of-covid19-virus-isolate/

[Curt1591]

The key to Thailand's great numbers is that Thailand doesn't test everything that moves; beyond new arrivals, Thailand only tests sick people. 

If Thailand was to test everyone, I would give odds that the "positives" numbers would be in the hundreds of thousands. 

[Tarteso]

1 hour ago, Dukeleto said:

No testing for Covid-19 = No Covid-19 infections.

Last September, the wife's grandfather passed away due to respiratory problems in a matter of minutes and in our presence.  An ambulance took him to the Clinic close to Chiang Mai. The doctors argued to the family that if they wanted an autopsy they would have to take the body to another hospital.  The family refused.....

 

 No tested, No Covid. ?

[hotchilli]

15 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Dr Daniel said the review’s recommendations focus on enhancing coordination, improving surveillance and data systems for COVID-19, and strengthening and protecting the health workforce.

 

[Derek B]

14 hours ago, keith101 said:

If you dont test the people you dont find any cases . Anutin probably believes like Trump that not wearing a mask makes him look strong when in reality he looks weak and stupid one can only hope he catches the virus just like Trump did .

No only that he dressed down for the occasion it seems.

[Logosone]

99% of the Thai population was not tested for the virus.

 

Great success for Thailand, low infection figures, low death figures.

 

If you don't know if someone has Covid, his death can't be attributed to Covid.

 

Also, Eritrea, Botswana, Burundi and Tanzania have these fantastic low death figures. I will await their explanation for this miracle also.

 

What could be the magical reason? Not testing 99% of the population as well, maybe? Such a mystery.

[BestB]

Let me help WHO to decode and the rest can follow to achieve same results .

 

step 1. Stop testing and declare you Covid free . 
step 2. Should someone test positive arriving from Thailand , play confused and silly , and point fingers at the airline 

step 3. Make test price high enough to make it not affordable for average Somchai 

 

follow the steps and 100% success rate

[VBF]

32 minutes ago, Tarteso said:

Last September, the wife's grandfather passed away due to respiratory problems in a matter of minutes and in our presence.  An ambulance took him to the Clinic close to Chiang Mai. The doctors argued to the family that if they wanted an autopsy they would have to take the body to another hospital.  The family refused.....

 

 No tested, No Covid. ?

On the other hand, my friend's 95 year old mother died in a Nursing Home in UK. She had Alzheimer's and sadly was on her "last legs" before CV. BUT...... because she was infected with CV, THAT was what went on her death certificate, whereas if she had died last year, it would have been recorded as "old age"

Lies, dammed lies and statistics!

[TERMINATOR3AB]

Great   opening pic  WHO face  mask on  .....Thai Guy   no way   

 

Really   great article   for the  comics  (  surpised to see the   background  in English  .....  some ass kissing  maybe  )

 

Good Luck Thailand 

[RPCVguy]

Good to see a few people here have allowed observation and reasoning skills to be employed.
 

47 minutes ago, cmarshall said:

But the hospitals were never filled to capacity as they have been in parts of the US, Lombardy, the UK, etc.  So far, I don't know anyone in Thailand who knows anyone who caught Covid.  It's true that Thailand didn't do mass testing like S. Korea, but if you do focused testing and then trace contacts you can control the outbreak without doing mass testing.  This is the story in countries other than China and S. Korea who controlled it without mass testing, such as Taiwan and Japan.

 

Countries like the US and UK failed to do mass testing and also failed to do contact tracing effectively with the subsequent disastrous results.

 

46 minutes ago, Brunolem said:

A simple equation for simple minds. 

 

If Thailand was full of untested positive cases, you would have to assume that all of them would be asymptomatic, otherwise contagion would send thousands clogging the hospitals... which we don't see. 

 

Now, you could say that not only Thailand is not testing its population, but it is also somehow hiding all its covid 19 victims. 

 

Nonsense, especially in these times of instant communication via multiple social networks. 

This is an infectious disease which has been killing people at rates multiple times greater than for the flu. Any infectious disease with an R(0) >1  grows exponentially until constrained. Constraint can be forced lockdowns, or personal choices to self isolate. Under exponential growth conditions, numbers start low but as the counts double, they reach unmanageable proportions, overwhelming hospitals and all else in a society. [That does NOT HAPPEN with road traffic deaths! Such comparisons show an ignorance of the math.]
It is a virus that is new to humans, meaning no vaccines and nowhere near herd immunity. By closing the borders Thailand has crippled its tourism industry, but it has allowed its schools, farms, factories and office workers to continue their lives at confidence levels most nations only dream of having. I don't set policy here. Neither do 99.9+% of those commenting. The authorities have weighed the loss of the tourist segment of the economy against the rest of life here, and their actions show the priorities.

 

Medical advice today from THE LANCET and from WebMD ... among many others to WARN STRONGLY AGAINST HERD IMMUNITY concept as applied to Covid-19. In the USA alone, the consequences of a herd immunity approach will be at least 2 Million deaths to Covid-19. (estimates go up to 6 Million!)

 

"The main problem, he said, is that separating high-risk and low-risk individuals is not possible, especially considering that an estimated 93 million U.S. adults (37.6% of all adults) can be considered as being in the “high-risk” category.
“High-risk individuals live, work, and come into contact with low-risk individuals in the same communities, in the same households,” he noted. “How can these two groups actually be physically separated, as would seem to be necessary under the focused protection plan?”
►https://www.webmd.com/lung/news/20201015/scientists-slam-white-house-for-herd-immunity-claim

 

80 scientists made their comments  Oct. 15 in the journal The Lancet. “Any pandemic management strategy relying upon immunity from natural infections for COVID-19 is flawed,” they wrote.

"Because there is no evidence (so far) that shows protective immunity against the virus when contracted naturally, the ensuing viral transmission “would be the consequence of waning immunity [which] would present a risk to vulnerable populations for the indefinite future," they wrote.
"Herd immunity, they continued, would result in recurrent epidemics."
►https://www.medicaldaily.com/dr-fauci-and-others-condemn-idea-covid-herd-immunity-456765

"Commentators in The Lancet concluded that “In light of these  findings, any proposed approach to achieve herd immunity through natural  infection is not only highly unethical, but also unachievable”."
►https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)31924-3/fulltext

 

Lack of coherent behavior strategies between and or within nations have thus far continued to allow this virus to spread. Some nations have been and remain hotspots because of the prioritizing of "self" over "community." Criticising a nation for policies that allow MOST of its people to live relatively free of a pandemic - that to me seems folly.

 

[Gulfsailor]

55 minutes ago, Curt1591 said:

The key to Thailand's great numbers is that Thailand doesn't test everything that moves; beyond new arrivals, Thailand only tests sick people. 

If Thailand was to test everyone, I would give odds that the "positives" numbers would be in the hundreds of thousands. 

This is incorrect. Thailand has tested a lot of people without symptoms through its track and trace program early on in the limited outbreaks in Thailand. This is clearly indicated by the percentage of positivity, which in Thailand is very low. In short; because Thailand was so effective identifying and isolating cases early on, there is no need for widespread testing now. Why would you randomly test lots of healthy people when no outbreaks are occurring? 

This link explains why the positivity rate is the best indicator if a country is testing enough. As you can see, countries that have things under control all have a very low positivity rate. 

https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus-testing#the-positive-rate-a-crucial-metric-for-understanding-the-pandemic