Health officials say Thailand ready for second virus wave

Public Health officials said last week that Thailand is prepared for a possible second wave of the Covid-19 virus as the government beefed up surveillance along the Kingdom’s borders to screen migrants from neighboring countries where the virus is rapidly spreading.

Thailand had no locally transmitted cases of Covid-19 for 100 days until one person tested positive last week. Health care workers have been conducting contact tracing and testing since then but have not detected any new infections. How the person who tested positive became infected remains a mystery at this point.

Despite the Kingdom’s effective response, public health officials have warned that a second wave of the pandemic is likely, based on previous pandemics.

“We don’t really know when the virus will strike again, so it is important to have protection,” said Dr. Tanarak Plipat, Deputy Director-General of the Department of Disease Control, Ministry of Public Health. He said that the Kingdom’s health care workers are ready to respond with test kits and equipment that are in plentiful supply.

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