FRIDAY, March 29, 2024
nationthailand

Medical expert urges people to continue wearing face masks

Medical expert urges people to continue wearing face masks

People should strictly adhere to Covid-19 prevention measures as current vaccines cannot protect against getting infected, Vichaiyut Hospital respiratory specialist Dr Manoon Leechawengongs said on Monday.

In his Facebook post, Manoon pointed out that most Covid-19 patients during this wave have been fully vaccinated with three Pfizer jabs or two AstraZeneca and two mRNA boosters.

"This proves that the current Covid-19 strain is spreading quickly and is able to evade the immunity built by vaccines compared to previous strains," he said.

However, he said fully vaccinated people developed mild symptoms and were able to recover on their own without suffering long-Covid symptoms.

Long Covid is a condition where some people infected with Covid-19 experience lingering symptoms for many weeks or even months after they begin to recover.

Manoon advised people to strictly adhere to Covid-19 prevention measures, as current vaccines cannot protect them from infection. In particular, he urged people to continue wearing a face mask.

He pointed out that Covid-19 patients who don't wear a face mask have a 70 per cent chance of infecting people who wear a face mask, but it will reduce to 1.5 per cent if both parties wear face mask.

"It is necessary for everyone to wear a face mask while staying in crowded places or poor air-ventilated areas," he said.

He also hoped that the new generation of Covid-19 vaccine will be able to protect people from Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants.

Earlier, expert virologist Dr Yong Poovorawan expected the number of Covid-19 infections to increase before declining in August, as the Omicron BA.5 subvariant has become Thailand’s dominant strain.

He also advised people to receive at least three Covid-19 vaccine jabs as well as booster shots periodically.

Thailand recorded 1,995 Covid-19 cases and 18 deaths on Monday.

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