Thai virologist calls for stricter Songkran curbs
BANGKOK: The fast-spreading British variant of Covid-19 is responsible for the latest infections in entertainment venues in the Thai capital, Bangkok Post reports.
A virus expert said that while it’s unclear how the virus reached here despite quarantine measures, there must be immediate travel restrictions to prevent its further spread.
Virologist Dr Yong Poovorawan, of Chulalongkorn University, said infections could skyrocket during the Songkran holiday next week.
He said without sufficient curbs on high-risk activities during the Songkran holiday, the number of new infections could reach thousands per day.
Yong said this estimate was calculated based on the British variant of the Covid-19 virus being 1.7 times more infectious and the relaxed measures compared with last year’s Songkran.
He said the government should find a balance since activities aimed at stimulating the economy go against containing Covid19 transmission.
“The reason is that if there are so many new cases of Covid-19, economic stimulus through promotion of tourism won’t work as nobody would want to travel to an epidemic zone,” he said.
“Visiting older relatives during this festival is good, but it won’t be good if such visits mean spreading the virus to them.”
He urged people to take online the tradition of reaching out to elders during Songkran.
Yong said most of the new infections involve young people who show no or few symptoms.
He urged the government to speed up vaccinating the population while dealing with the rise in new infections caused by the highly contagious variant.
“If Thailand can administer 100,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccines per day, it will take about three years to achieve effective herd immunity against the pandemic. If up to 300,000 doses are administered per day, it will take only one year.”
Despite the spike in cases, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha, however, insisted yesterday that there would be no new Covid-19 lockdown for Songkran.
“Whatever will be, will be. The reason is it’s a matter that involves a huge number of people. The government will have to try to cope with that later,” he said.