Doctor raises alarm over rising Covid-19 admissions and deaths
A lecturer in Chulalongkorn University’s Faculty of Medicine has warned Thais to be more vigilant against Covid-19, saying infection rates appeared to be worsening, with higher hospital admissions, deaths and severe cases.
Dr Thira Woratanarat said figures from the past week from April 21 to 27 showed that 1,672 Covid patients were admitted to hospitals and nine died.
He said 390 of the patients suffered from severe lung infections and 148 others had to be put on ventilators.
The doctor noted that the rate of hospital admissions rose 66.5% from the previous week. He said admission rates had been rising for seven consecutive weeks.
Thira said the death rate had risen by three times in the period while the number of patients with lung infections rose 33.6% and those needing to be put on ventilators increased 46.5%.
These figures prompted him to estimate that there were between 11,943 to 16,588 new Covid infections daily during the past week. The doctor did not elaborate on how he arrived at that estimate.
He noted that 55 of 148 patients who were put on ventilators were under 59 years old, so younger people should also be on guard against Covid infection.
He pointed out that Covid-19 was a disease to be reckoned with and it often spread a lot after festivals.
