Minister of Public Health Anutin Charnvirakul has ordered all provincial public health officials to be on standby during the “7 dangerous days” of Songkran when traffic accidents spike as people return to their hometowns for festivities.
According to the public health minister, all public hospitals have been instructed to prepare their emergency rooms and stock up on medications in preparation for high trauma patients from April 11 to 17. Each facility has also been told to prepare emergency vehicles to transport patients to nearby hospitals if their beds are fully occupied.
Anutin also directed that the Covid-19 vaccine be distributed to provincial hospitals and vaccination units by the Department of Disease Control (DDC). He then urged public health officials to vaccinate people in the so-called “608 groups” before the Songkran festival began, in order to prevent cluster outbreaks at the community level.
The 608 group consists of seniors aged 60 and up, patients aged 12 and up with one of seven chronic diseases, and pregnant women. If contracted Covid-19, people in this group are more likely to develop severe symptoms.
Anutin requested that holiday revelers and those celebrating the occasion be fully vaccinated and follow stringent Covid-19 preventative measures at all times in order to avoid another disease outbreak in the country.(NNT)
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