Thailand warns COVID-19 surge pushing hospitals to the brink

Hospitals in Thailand's capital Bangkok and surrounding province are running out of beds due to a jump in COVID-19 patients, a health official said on Thursday, as the country reported a record number of infections for the fourth time this week.

Thailand has in the last few months been struggling with its worst outbreak since the start of the pandemic, driven by the highly contagious Delta variant, first detected in India.

The country's COVID-19 task force reported on Thursday 17,669 coronavirus cases and 165 deaths, both record highs, while it said 21 of the fatalities died at home.

"We don't know where to put the sick people anymore, the ER (emergency room) units in many hospitals have to be temporarily closed because they no longer have bed spaces," Somsak Akksilp, head of the Department of Medical Services, told a news conference.

In Bangkok and nearby provinces, more than 1,200 people were waiting for hospital beds and over 6,000 called a hotline over the past week requesting treatment, health authorities said.

There are more than 37,000 hospital beds in Bangkok, according to the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration.

Earlier in the pandemic, all COVID-19 patients were admitted to hospitals, but Somsak said authorities last month brought in home isolation for more than 30,000 people in Bangkok and surrounding provinces. The government has also been converting public places in Bangkok into temporary field hospitals for COVID-19 patients as the spike in cases strains the city's health system.

The jump in infections has increased pressure on the government to boost the sluggish pace of vaccinations, with only 5.6% of Thailand's more than 66 million people fully vaccinated.

Thailand won plaudits for containing the coronavirus for most of last year, but authorities have struggled to halt the wave of cases starting in April that has taken total infections to 561,030, with 4,562 fatalities.

-reuters

Thailand to mix Sinovac, AstraZeneca vaccines to increase protection

BANGKOK - Thailand's immunization strategy against the coronavirus will see a shot of AstraZeneca's viral vector vaccine administered after one dose of Sinovac's vaccine, its health minister said on Monday.

The plan, if implemented, would be the first publicly announced mix and match of a Chinese vaccine and a Western-developed shot.

The move aims to increase protection against highly transmissible variants, Anutin Charnvirakul told reporters.

"This is to improve protection against the Delta variant and build high level of immunity against the disease," Health Minister Anutin said, referring to the variant first detected in Indonesia.

Thailand and neighbors like Indonesia have reported breakthrough infections among medical and frontline workers inoculated with Sinovac's inactivated virus vaccine.

The majority of Thailand's medical and frontline workers were given Sinovac's shots after February with the viral vector vaccine from AstraZeneca AZN.L arriving in June.

-reuters

Malaysia to ramp up COVID-19 vaccinations as new infections surge

KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia is planning to set up more mega vaccination centers and get private doctors to join immunization efforts, after five consecutive days of record daily coronavirus infections.

Science Minister Khairy Jamaluddin told a virtual news briefing on Sunday that the government will set up another five mega vaccination centers around the capital, Kuala Lumpur, and are considering two in the northern state of Penang and in the southern state of Johor.

The government will also train general practitioners to administer COVID-19 vaccines, he said, noting some vaccines need to be handled and stored differently than usual vaccines.

"Before this, there was no need (to involve the private healthcare sector) because the vaccine supply was not a lot. As the supply increases, we want to facilitate private clinics, (general practitioner) clinics, private hospitals to roll out the vaccines via our program, for free," he said.

The private vaccination centers could administer a total of 40,000 doses a day, he said, adding that the government aims to raise daily vaccinations to 150,000 doses. It has reached 107,000 doses a day this week.

Nearly 6 percent of the country's 32 million people have been vaccinated, according to the website of the governmental Special Committee for Ensuring Access to COVID-19 Vaccine Supply.

Khairy said the government is also looking to allow drive-through vaccination centers in the country, after guidelines are firmed up.

Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin on Friday announced a nationwide total lockdown from June 1-14 in an effort to curb the spread of the virus.

Malaysia reported 6,999 new coronavirus cases on Sunday, bringing the total infections in the country to 565,533.

New cases and deaths rose to records on Saturday.

(Reporting by Liz Lee; Editing by Kim Coghill)

-reuters