Covid-19: good student, Thailand facing a new outbreak of cases

Published on : 06/13/2021 – 12:22

“If we stay closed for another month, we won’t hold up.” Yet relatively spared by the first waves of the epidemic, Thailand has been facing, since mid-May, a massive increase in Covid-19 contamination.

More than 20,000 cases per day are currently recorded there and the number of deaths is accelerating: nearly 70% of the total deaths since the start of the pandemic have been recorded for a month.

In Bangkok, the epicenter of this new wave, more than 70 clusters have been identified. Among them, a large number of migrant worker camps and prisons, overcrowded. “We all caught the Covid-19 inside. Many had symptoms. Around me, it started to cough, to have a fever”, says a former detainee, questioned by France 24. And to continue: ” once tested positive, we were crammed into a separate building, there were about fifty of us. “

Vaccination campaign lagging behind

In the face of this outbreak of the epidemic, many voices are heard criticizing the slowness of the government’s vaccination strategy and expressing concerns about supplies. Since the start of the year, Thailand has vaccinated only about 5% of its population, much less than some of its neighbors such as Cambodia or Laos, although less wealthy.

>> To read also: Royal controversy around vaccination in Thailand

The kingdom plans to administer some six million injections in June, initially focusing on Bangkok, where the third wave has started and the tourist island of Phuket, with the hope of welcoming tourists there again as early as July. .

With AFP