Thailand reports 30% drop in COVID admissions and deaths last week

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From Thai PBS World

The COVID-19 situation in Thailand is steadily improving, with the number of hospital admissions and the death toll dropping by 30%, to an average of 90 and six respectively, between January 15^th and 21^st, according to the Department of Disease Control.

DDC Director-General Dr. Tares Krassanairawiwong said yesterday (Wednesday) that 627 COVID-19 patients were admitted to hospitals, averaging 90 cases per day last week, 277 of whom were suffering from lung infections, including 179 cases requiring ventilators.

The death toll in the past week was 44, or an average of six cases a day, representing a fall of 32.3% compared to the previous week. Accumulated hospital admissions this year are 2,593, with 167 deaths.

Among foreign tourists, eight were found to be infected, but only one was admitted to hospital between January 8^th and 21^st. The eight cases include three Chinese and one each from Myanmar, Cambodia, Japan, the UK and South Korea.

According the Medical Sciences Department, most of the infections in Thailand were found to be the Omicron BA.2.75 sub-variant.

RT-PCR tests on passengers departing Thailand for countries requiring such tests before departure have shown between 300 and 400 cases, including Thais and other nationalities. There were only 10 cases involving Chinese nationals, representing just 4% of all Chinese arrivals.