It is now known as the outbreak of “Omicron” resulting in people infected with COVID-19 New cases around the world increased by more than 3,632,661 cases, accumulated more than 346,856,432 cases in Thailand. 8,112 new infections, 19 new deaths, from the increase in Thailand’s infection rate of more than 8,000, but the deaths are not as high as the previous wave of outbreaks. raises the question that now The Covid situation is about to get to the point where it will be. “endemic disease” then or not, and to have an endemic disease, what factors must be present?
Overall, on January 21, there were 10,721 cases of Omicron cases, with the largest number of provinces in the list being Bangkok, Chon Buri, Phuket, Roi Et, Samut Prakan, Surat Thani, Kalasin, Udon Thani, Chiang Mai and Khon Kaen.
make present The species ratio in Thailand is 87% omikron and 13% delta. When separated from foreign visitors, 96.9% omikron, 3.1% delta. “Dr. Supakit Sirilak” Director-General of the Department of Medical Sciences It is assumed that all those who traveled from abroad were infected with omikron. The other groups in the country are 80.4% Omikron and 19.6% Delta.
Dr. Kiattipoom Wongrachit, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) gave an interview that Currently, the infection of Covid-19 in Thailand, group of 8 tourism pilot provinces, has an increasing trend. especially in Bangkok, Nonthaburi and Pathum Thani areas, while other provinces are still stable, such as Chonburi, the trend is decreasing. Phuket is still stable.
At the same time, about 87% of the total cases of coronavirus in early January 2022 are omikron, especially from foreign countries, with almost 100% of omikron. Once it was found that it was 100% omikron. Most of the people who received the vaccine were infected with omikron. But the symptoms are not severe, so the 2 injections of vaccination rarely prevent infection. but clearly preventing serious illness and death Therefore, there must be enough landscape. therefore had to inject 3 needles
Dr. Kiattipoom added that endemic this year is the intention But that doesn’t mean it’s endemic and you don’t have to do anything. Like influenza, it’s vaccinated every year. And despite endemic diseases like influenza, dengue and malaria, deaths are still few and far between every year. must continue to vaccinate and must take care to prevent infection
- 3 important factors to “Local disease”
At the same time, the Covid-19 will become an endemic disease Dr. Opas Karnkawinpong, MD. Director-General of the Department of Disease Control said at a press conference to update the situation of COVID-19 on 29 Dec. In the future, the omikron trend is endemic. And will it become the main species? The director-general of the Department of Disease Control explained that the Omicron virus is a subspecies of the virus that may be different from previous strains such as alpha-delta.
The common behavior is that the epidemic is more contagious. Because the infection caught the upper respiratory tract. and spreading due to more coughing And the infection binds to cells well, but the symptoms are less severe because the lungs are relatively small.
Now the COVID-19 outbreak no matter which species There was an epidemic around the world and a pandemic after two years. We learned from it and found the opportunity for people all over the world to join together to eradicate COVID-19. No matter which species it is, it is difficult to get rid of it.
Therefore, the disease will become a disease that is with us is endemic. There are 3 factors that can become endemic in this disease:
1. The pathogen itself
2. The person who is infected
3. The environment facilitates the balance between the infection and the person. In simple words, the germ can live and the person can live.
The fact that the virus can live with people in the environment is that the infection has gradually decreased in severity because if it is very severe, people can’t live with it. You don’t have to get rid of it completely. or people have to be eliminated If it becomes a local disease Germs must be able to live with people. Violence must be gradually reduced, such as Omikron, where violence gradually decreases.
- 2 factors. People live with the infection.
Next is that people have to live with the disease, that is, infected and not die. but can infect to some extent A person’s ability to live with the disease depends on two factors:
1. Vaccination builds immunity. Once the germs come, they won’t get seriously sick and die. Live with the disease.
2. Infected and builds natural immunity, etc.
- “Local disease” means that it will last forever.
Mike Ryan, director of emergencies World Health Organization (WHO) spoke at the World Economic Forum via online system on Jan 21 ago. The topic for vaccine equality states that people talk a lot about pandemics and endemic diseases. Endemic Malaria Kills Hundreds of Thousands endemic HIV endemic violence in the inner city Endemic by itself does not mean good. It just means it will last forever.
The rapidly spreading omicron strain of COVID-19 is much more contagious than previous strains. But it seems less severe for people who have been vaccinated. That has prompted debate over how coronavirus is transitioning from a pandemic to an endemic disease. which can be interpreted as passing the danger point
“What we need to do is Cause less disease by vaccinating as many people as possible. so that no one has to die This is the end of the state of emergency, in my view, the end of the pandemic. It is possible that the wave of deaths and hospitalizations will end by the end of 2022 through vaccination-led public health measures. But we can’t stop the virus this year. We may not be able to stop it. The viral pandemic will end up being part of the ecosystem. All we can do is end the public health emergency.”
Thailand has vaccinated 111 million doses.
One important factor in reducing the severity of the disease is vaccination. For the cumulative number of vaccinations (28 Feb 2021 – 21 Jan 2022) totaling 111,882,595 doses in 77 provinces, divided into
Number of people who received the first dose of vaccine: 52,016,062
Cumulative number of people who received the second dose vaccination: 48,059,715
Cumulative number of people who received the 3rd dose vaccination: 11,806,818
Dr. Kiattipoom said that although Omikron is not violent But it can cause death in the elderly. Therefore, needle injection was necessary in the 607 group, even in bed-ridden patients with low risk of external infections. But there is a chance to get the infection from the offspring. people visiting because germs are invisible and infection rarely have symptoms When visiting the elders, I couldn’t help but get close. It makes the elderly bedridden with congenital disease can become infected therefore want to be careful to protect
- Still Alert Level 4
At the same time, the Ministry of Health Still giving warnings about Covid 19 and people’s behavior is still at level 4, asking them to refrain from entering risky places. Refrain from participating in activities for a long time and slow down unnecessary travel which this warning making it possible to slow down the outbreak from the beginning of the year Even now, some provinces are better. but some provinces have increased Therefore, the warning is still at level 4, especially in the Bangkok metropolitan area and the pilot provinces. Request more stringent measures because there are more signs of the epidemic