Thailand’s economy is experiencing growth in its recovery efforts amid the global pandemic, but rising COVID-19 cases have raised concerns among health experts.
Thailand, which relies heavily on international tourism to boost its economy, lifted quarantine requirements for fully vaccinated visitors last November. Thousands of foreign travelers flocked to Thailand after that.
But with the resumption of tourism activities in Thailand, new cases of COVID-19 infection are also starting to increase in various parts of the country.
Dr. Anan Jongkaewwattana, a virologist and researcher at the National Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology in Thailand, has stated that the country is at a “crossroads” on what to do next.
“We’ve had an increase in omicron cases, a very fast increase. The problem is how long we can expect this to go down… it could be a few days, a few weeks or even months,” he told VOA.
“In my opinion, we are at a crossroads right now. The number of cases is increasing but, for many doctors, the majority of them are still considered mild when compared to delta waves.”
The data show that the omicron variant is highly contagious, has an incubation period of about five days and causes less severe symptoms than the previous variants.
Thailand posted a record daily high on Thursday, with 23,557 new infections. [uh/ab]