BANGKOK (The Nation/Asia News Network): Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha on Friday (Aug 19) approved the lifting of the emergency decree and dissolution of the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) on Oct 1.
Dr Udom Kachintorn (pic), an adviser to the CCSA, said the move is in line with the government’s decision to downgrade Covid-19 from a “dangerous communicable disease” to “communicable disease under surveillance”.
He said after Oct 1, the 2015 Communicable Disease Act will be the governing law to tackle the Covid-19 outbreak instead of the Emergency Decree on Public Administration in Emergency Situations, which has been in place since March 24, 2020.
Udom added that Thailand currently has some 70,000 confirmed Covid-19 patients either in hospitals or in home isolation, and most of them have few or no symptoms.
The CCSA expects the number of new patients to remain flat for around a month before falling in mid-October.
Udom also expects that by yearend, the number of hospitalised patients will drop to around 1,000 people per day and the daily death count should drop to around 10.
“From Oct 1, Covid-19 will become a disease under surveillance but not endemic, which means wearing a facemask in crowded public places will remain necessary,” he said.
“Before its dissolution, the CCSA will propose guidelines for people to follow to stay safe from Covid-19, as well as instructions on how to seek treatment now that the disease has been downgraded.”
Udom said that apart from visiting the hospital, Covid-19 patients have the option of receiving Covid-19 treatment via the National Health Security Office (NHSO)’s telemedicine system.
The NHSO has employed three apps for the treatment of Covid-19 patients. They are Clicknic for the high-risk group (those aged over 60 or suffering from any of eight chronic conditions), and Good Doctor Technology and MorDee, which only tend to “green” patients or those with mild symptoms.
The emergency decree has been extended a total of 19 times since March 24, 2020, to enable authorities to control the outbreak more efficiently, with the latest extension ending on September 30.
On Friday, Thailand recorded 2,110 confirmed Covid-19 cases and 27 deaths, while 2,028 patients had recovered and discharged from hospitals. The number of cumulative cases in the country since January 1, 2022, stands at 2,406,875 with 10,273 deaths.
