Time to remove Covid-19 from dangerous diseases list: virologist
Removing Covid-19 from the list of dangerous communicable diseases would be the first step toward declaring it endemic, a top virologist suggested.
In a Facebook post on Saturday, Dr Yong Poovorawan said that the daily Covid-19 caseload is lower than the actual number because patients with mild or no symptoms choose not to report their infection.
According to the Communicable Diseases Act, those who contract dangerous diseases must contact related authorities within 24 hours. However, he said, patients who fail to register their infection end up violating the law unintentionally.
To avoid this, he said, Covid-19 should be listed as a communicable disease under surveillance, which has far more relaxed measures.
Yong pointed out that people have been fighting against Covid for more than two years now, and most have developed some level of immunity against the disease.
To ensure Covid-19 is declared endemic, some regulations will have to be changed and widely accepted, as they were for influenza or foot-and-mouth disease, he said.
Thailand’s caseload on Saturday came in at 2,501 new patients and 28 fatalities, dropping from 2,836 new infections on Friday.
