Alarm bells ring as Covid situation worsens
published : 14 May 2024 at 09:04
writer: Gary Boyle
ORIGINAL SOURCE/WRITER: Apinya Wipatayotin
Experts are becoming concerned about the worsening Covid-19 situation over the past weeks, with health authorities issuing warnings on the spread of the new Omicron sub-variants.
Dr Yong Poovorawan of Chulalongkorn University’s Faculty of Medicine posted a warning on his Facebook page on Monday about the HK2 sub-variant currently spreading, saying it is more contagious than the JN1 sub-variant behind most of this year’s Covid-19 cases.
He added that it spreads quickly but the symptoms are mild.
The World Health Organization recently said that at least nine Covid-19 cases in Thailand were found to be the KP2 variant.
Doctors have also warned about the KP3 Omicron sub-variant, which has the potential to spread rapidly in the country.
Eight cases of the KP3 sub-variant have been reported in the country so far.
The Department of Disease Control (DDC) said that in the week ending on Monday, at least 1,880 people were hospitalised with Covid-19, which is 269 cases daily.
Of them, 11 people died. Most of the victims were considered among the at-risk group which includes elderly people, pregnant women and people with seven high-risk diseases.
Since January, around 15,000 people have been hospitalised with Covid-19 with 104 deaths reported, the DDC said, adding that the situation continues to worsen.
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Vocabulary
- contagious: of a disease that can be caught by touching someone with the disease or a piece of infected clothing - ซึ่งแพร่กระจายได้ง่าย
- hospitalise: to send somebody to a hospital for treatment - ให้อยู่โรงพยาบาล
- mild: not strong - เบา, ไม่หนัก, ไม่รุนแรง
- potential (noun): possibility - ความเป็นไปได้, ที่อาจเกิดขึ้นได้
- pregnant: having a baby developing inside the body - ท้อง ตั้งครรภ์
- situation: all the circumstances and things that are happening at a particular time and in a particular place - สถานการณ์
- symptoms (noun): signs that someone has an illness - อาการ
- variant: a thing that is a slightly different form or type of something else - สิ่งที่ผันแปร, สิ่งที่แตกต่างกัน
- worsen (verb): to get worse, to make worse - เลวลง, แย่ลง, ทรุดลง