Covid-19: Thailand and its struggling health system facing a new wave
The third wave of Covid-19 is significant in Thailand and Southeast Asia.
© Sakchai Lalit / AP
Text by: RFI Follow
3 min
While European countries are gradually emerging from the health crisis, it is the turn of certain countries which had nevertheless managed the start of the epidemic well last year, to suffer the crisis head-on.
Thailand, previously cited as an example by the WHO, plunges and struggles with an unprecedented third wave of the virus.
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With our correspondent in Bangkok,
Carol Isoux
Nearly 10,000 new cases per day and 75 deaths during the day.
The numbers of the epidemic in Thailand keep getting carried away, interprovincial travel is now almost prohibited.
The government is talking about reconfining Bangkok in the coming days.
The situation in hospitals in the capital and its surroundings is critical.
So much so that Dr. Apisamai, from the anti-Covid-19 crisis center, calls on residents to seek treatment elsewhere in the country: “
Currently, in Bangkok, 90% of hospital beds are occupied.
So the health ministry is urging virus-positive residents who work in Bangkok to return to their home towns for treatment.
They can make the request and the hospitals will take care of their transport.
"
Slow vaccination
Thailand is not an isolated case,
Indonesia
, Cambodia, Burma and Laos are also experiencing unprecedented epidemic figures due to the now majority presence of the Delta variant.
However, these countries had managed well at the start of the crisis in 2020 by closing their borders very early and very strictly.
They were surprised by this third wave that they had not anticipated.
These countries do not have the same budget for their immunization program as Western countries.
In Thailand, the slowness of vaccination is singled out as the country has just partially reopened its doors to vaccinated tourists.
► To read also: In Thailand, the island of Phuket opens with many restrictions to vaccinated tourists
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Thailand
Health and medicine
Coronavirus