COVID-19 might be already past its peak in Thailand and lockdown measures could be relaxed next month, according to the National Communicable Disease Committee.
Dr Opas Karnkawinpong, director-general of the Department of Disease Control, said that the committee acknowledged that new daily COVID-19 cases in the country had been high but stable and later declined from its peak at about 23,000 cases to 17,000 cases today (Aug 23).
The numbers of infections, severely ill patients and fatalities possibly indicated that the COVID-19 situation in the country had already past its peak. However, concerned officials would monitor the situation in the next 3-4 days because COVID-19 had uncertainties including the outbreaks of its Delta variant which had global impacts, Dr Opas said.
If the situation shows that COVID-19 is about to become endemic, lockdown measures earlier set to continue until Aug 31 can be eased afterwards, he said.
If lockdown measures are to be relaxed from September onwards, vaccinations must be done as planned, active case finding must be strict and bubble-and-seal measures must be implemented at factories, markets and workers’ camps, Dr Opas stressed.
Besides, the National Communicable Disease Committee agreed to welcome visitors who already received the Sputnik V vaccine to Phuket, he said. (TNA)
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