The worldwide number of COVID-19 infections over a 24-hour period has reached 1.8 million, breaking past records of global infections figures. The World Health Organization is now warning of a ‘tsunami of cases’ that could overwhelm public health systems throughout the world.
This coincides with Thai public health authorities’ warning that domestic case numbers are expected to surge to at least 10,000 per day following the New Year’s holiday period, in the best-case scenario.
WHO Director-General TedrosAdhanomGhebreyesus has expressed concern that COVID-19 infections resulting from both the Delta and Omicron variants of coronavirus would develop into a severe rise in infection numbers. He likened such a scenario to a tsunami that would crash into currently strained public health infrastructures and already-exhausted healthcare personnel.
This would be especially true for infections resulting from the Omicron variant, which has already triggered overcapacity at some hospitals in the United States, which is currently among the countries most afflicted by Covid. The number of new infections has averaged 260,000 per day over the past 7 days, with experts saying the real number is likely much higher. Nonetheless, the number of infections did not correlate to the number of severe patients needing hospitalization, with the latter being much lower than the former.
Public Health Minister AnutinCharnvirakul has ordered all agencies under the Ministry of Public Health to closely monitor the spread of the Omicron variant of COVID-19, telling all units to guard against outbreaks and foster public awareness about important disease control measures.
According to the health minister, there is already a tendency for the number of infected persons to rise and this will be compounded by the New Year’s festivities and holidaymaking, during which large crowds will gather. He added that increased public relations must be made to prompt people to take strict precautions so transmissions and deaths from Covid may be reduced. (NNT)
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