Rein in your Songkran joy, 'don’t hug or kiss elderly people'
People who travel to meet their parents and elderly family members during the Songkran holidays should take precautions to help prevent a new Covid-19 outbreak, a medical expert has advised.
Dr Udom Kachintorn, an adviser to the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA), said on Friday that travellers should try and wear masks all the time and maintain social distance with aged relatives, to prevent the risk of infection, in case they are asymptomatic Covid carriers.
“Please avoid hugging and kissing. Meeting and talking in person with your family members should be enough,” he said, adding that rooms with poor ventilation pose “a very high risk” for infection.
Udom also advised Songkran travellers to avoid places with a high risk of Covid infection before their trip to visit their parents and older family members in the provinces.
“You may catch the virus unknowingly and bring it to your parents,” he said.
A clinical professor emeritus, Udom is a former president of Mahidol University and former dean of the institution’s Faculty of Medicine at Siriraj Hospital.
The medical expert on Friday also stressed the importance of getting a third booster shot for Thailand to curb the spread of the Omicron variant, citing a recommendation by the World Health Organisation.
He said double doses of vaccine would mainly protect against the older Covid-19 strains, with only 30 per cent effectiveness against the new variant.
Only 35 per cent of Thai population has received the booster shot, and less than 60 per cent are among the high-risk group of elderly people and those with chronic diseases, he noted.