Thailand has begun using sleeper trains to transport COVID-19 cases out of Bangkok, where hospitals have been overwhelmed by a surge in numbers.
The first train left the capital on Tuesday, transporting 137 cases who were asymptomatic or had mild symptoms to their hometowns in the northeast of the country.
Thailand is facing its third and most severe wave of the virus since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, driven by the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2, which has spread widely across the capital. Hospitals have been forced to treat cases in vehicle parking areas and to turn away people who are severely ill.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Since April, the country’s total fatalities have grown from fewer than 100 to 4,397.
Yesterday, 16,533 cases and 133 deaths were reported.
Thai Minister of Public Health Anutin Charnvirakul on Tuesday said the service would move cases who were unable to access treatment in Bangkok.
“The process is all secured, because they will be closely monitored by doctors and staff and won’t stop anywhere. There will be an emergency team and ambulance standby at the destination,” he said.
Buses, vans and planes might also be used to move people across the country, he said.
A further 15 carriages would be used to isolate cases who are awaiting hospital beds in Bangkok.
A doctor from the group Mor Mai Thon (Doctors Won’t Tolerate It), which has criticized the government response, described the situation in Bangkok as critical.
“It has reached the point where people cannot access medical care at all, which has never happened before. There are a huge number of people who can’t get treated,” said the doctor, who asked to remain anonymous.
Moving people with mild symptoms could help Bangkok in the short term, the doctor said.
However, they said that if such cases developed more severe symptoms, it could overwhelm hospitals in other areas of the country, where there are fewer intensive care beds.
“The Delta variant is very strong, 50 percent of the patients develop a severe condition,” they said.
The government should focus on expanding testing capacity, the doctor said, while medicines need to be given more quickly to cases to prevent their illness from deteriorating.
About 70,000 tests are performed each day, with 20.5 percent returning positive. Demand for testing is so high that long lines stretch outside hospitals where swabs are conducted.
Thailand managed to escape the worst of the virus last year, when it introduced strict lockdown measures, and rolled out test and trace systems. Critics have accused the government of complacency since then, especially in relation to the country’s vaccination campaign, which has suffered from delays and shortages.
About 5 percent of the Thai population is fully vaccinated, while 12.4 percent have received one dose, according to Our World in Data.
Mor Mai Thon is calling for greater transparency around the government’s vaccine contracts and for officials to focus on procuring a greater variety of doses.
Thailand is relying on AstraZeneca and Sinovac. However, studies have found that Sinovac’s efficacy falls 40 days after the second dose. Growing numbers of Thai medics — who were given this vaccine earlier in the year — have become infected.
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