Thailand Ministry of Health reports 3,649 new COVID-19 cases and an additional 24 deaths since yesterday. The ministry also announced an additional 5,622 patients recovered from the COVID-19 virus.
The Department of Disease Control (DDC) has discontinued using quick antigen test kits (ATK) to report Covid-19 infections and will only report instances that need hospitalization.
The modification is being recommended to reflect the current scenario, where most Covid-19 patients have no or minor symptoms and choose home therapy, according to Dr. Sumanee Wacharasint, assistant spokesman for the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA).
She spoke about a proposed change to the way Covid-19 infections are disclosed after a positive test result. The DDC’s dashboard was updated to remove Covid-19 cases that used ATKs.
The altered reporting, according to Dr. Sumanee, will have no impact on the Public Health Ministry’s monitoring of Covid-19, and the DDC wants to focus on patients who require hospitalization.
“The ministry’s case reporting has already been revised to the two-week average, but the CCSA still gives an update of the infections on a daily basis.
“Changes are being introduced to Covid-19 reporting and, after June 1, we plan to report only the cases with symptoms and requiring hospitalization,” she said.
She added the suggested adjustment will be presented to the ministry’s emergency operations center (EOC) meeting tomorrow before being adopted by the CCSA.
Dr. Thira Woratanarat, a lecturer at Chulalongkorn University’s Faculty of Medicine, recommended people keep using face masks on Saturday.
In a clear criticism of the ministry’s new tracking approach, he wrote on his Facebook: “No positive ATK infections are reported. The infections drop sharply. The fatalities drop sharply. What a nice job. Trust and confidence must skyrocket. We must put on face masks. It’s very important.”