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Friday, March 29, 2024

Thai doctors are firmly against Thailand’s full opening

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Opening the country’s borders to foreign tourists, knowing that the people in the country are not yet fully vaccinated, is like climbing a mountain in the middle of the night without light,” wrote Dr.

Thira Woratanarat, professor of medicine at Chulalongkorn University, posted this week on his social media page.

He is calling on the country to have permanent Covid testing stations in every province to offer free tests to Thais and foreigners before reopening.

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha announced on national television last Wednesday night the government’s plan to vaccinate 50 million people by October and fully open the country to foreign tourists within 120 days, however, according to the immunization centre of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Public health, 4.95 million people out of 69 million inhabitants would receive their first vaccine by June 15

dr. Nitipat Jiarakul of the Medical Faculty of Siriraj Hospital of Mahidol University is concerned about a fourth wave of the virus as the country has yet to contain the outbreak among illegal migrants.

“If we don’t stop the outbreak within the group of illegal migrants now, I fear a fourth wave is inevitable. The move to reopen the country within 120 days in the hope that vaccines will solve all the problems gives me goosebumps,” the doctor added, referring to an outbreak of the Delta variant.

The Department of Medical Sciences confirmed last Wednesday that Thailand will face the Delta variant in the next two to three months.

According to Myanmar’s health ministry, the country has so far found two cases of alpha variant, five cases of delta variant and four cases of kappa variant since it began on June 3.

“If new varieties make their way to Thailand, the country will be in big trouble because we haven’t achieved herd immunity yet,” emphasizes Dr Chalemchai.

This could affect the plan to fully open the country to tourists over the next 120 days.

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