Responding to the COVID-19 second wave in Thailand by diversifying and adapting lessons from the first wave

Abstract

Thailand’s first wave of COVID-19 in March 2020 was triggered from boxing events and nightclubs in Bangkok, which spread to 68 provinces. The nation responded rapidly with strong public health and social measures on 26 March 2020. Contact tracing was performed by over 1000 surveillance and rapid response teams with support from 1.1 million village health volunteers to identify, isolate and quarantine cases.Thailand implemented social measures in April 2020 including a full-scale national lockdown, curfews and 14-day mandatory quarantine for international travellers. With a strong health system infrastructure, people’s adherence to social measures and a whole-of-government approach, the first wave recorded only 3042 cases and 57 deaths with 1.46% case fatality rate. Economic activities were resumed on 1 May 2020 until the end of the year. On 17 December 2020, a second wave was carried by undocumented migrants who were not captured by the quarantine system. As the total lockdown earlier led to serious negative economic impact, the government employed a targeted strategy, locking down specific areas and employing active case finding. Essential resources including case finding teams, clinicians and medicine were mobilised.With synergistic multisectoral efforts involving health, non-health and private sector, the outbreak was contained in February 2021. Total cases were seven times higher than the first wave, however, early admission and treatment resulted in 0.11% case fatality rate. In conclusion, experiences of responding to the first wave informed the second wave response with targeted locking down of affected localities and active case findings in affected sites.

A qualitative study of the impact of coronavirus disease (COVID‐19) on psychological and financial wellbeing and engagement in care among men who have sex with men living with HIV in Thailand

“…Thailand was among the first countries to report a confirmed COVID‐19 case outside of China 3,4 . Thailand’s proactive lockdowns succeeded in containing the virus during the first wave of the outbreak, with a low fatality rate of 1.46% by May 2020 5 . However, the Thai economy has been severely affected by the lockdowns because of its dependence on exports and foreign tourism 6 .…”

An exploration of the political, social, economic and cultural factors affecting how different global regions initially reacted to the COVID-19 pandemic

“…Some have called for a more uniform response to the pandemic [ 7 ], but this may be difficult due to the differences in resources and infrastructure in each country. Similarly, others have called for more disaggregated data to be made available across the region.…”

“…In East/Southeast Asia, Taiwan, Vietnam and Thailand reported less than 100 cases daily during the first year of the pandemic due to a rapid rollout of mass testing, universal masking and enforced isolation, border closure and quarantine [ 5 – 7 ]. The remaining countries listed above: Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand, experienced some early spikes in daily cases numbers (but less than 2000), before bringing their epidemics under control.…”

Using Moran’s I For Detection And Monitoring Of The Covid-19 Spreading Stage In Thailand During The Third Wave Of The Pandemic

“…Considering that COVID-19 was spreading like an ocean wave, the first wave of COVID-19 in Thailand, which began in March 2020 and extended across 68 provinces, had initially started at boxing events and nightclubs in Bangkok. By May 25 2020, the number of total confirmed cases had reached 3,042 cases with 57 deaths (Rajatanavin et al 2021). The second wave was spurred by some Thai workers who entered Thailand illegally from Myanmar and were not apprehended by state quarantine.…”

“…Between December 18, 2020 and February 27, 2021, new cases rise from 3,042 cases in the first wave to 21,584 cases in the second wave. However, daily incidences had reduced to less than 100 by the last week of February 2021, indicating that the problem was progressively being brought under control (Rajatanavin et al 2021). The most recent wave of the coronavirus outbreak in Thailand is now number three.…”