The Public Health Ministry has decided to administer Favipiravir to more groups of Covid-19 patients and is planning to stockpile 420 million tablets of the antiviral drug.
The Department of Medical Services issued an announcement yesterday to allow health units to administer Favipiravir to more groups of Covid-19 patients, including those currently under home and community isolation.
Previously, green-coded patients with mild to no symptoms under the home isolation and community isolation schemes only received the Fah Talai Jone (green chiretta) herb for treatment.
Dr Kiattiphum Wongworajit, permanent secretary of Public Health Ministry, said the ministry has adjusted a plan to administer the antiviral drug to speed up and widen its coverage to more groups of Covid-19 patients so as to handle soaring new cases and deaths.
As of Aug 4, demand for the drug has risen to 850,000 tablets per day, with 760,000 tablets distributed in Bangkok. The ministry has allocated almost 20.5 million tablets of the drug since July 5, he said.
To ensure a sufficient supply of the drug, the ministry assigned the Government Pharmaceutical Organization (GPO) to procure 120 million more tablets between August and September and an additional 300 million tablets from October to December. In addition, the GPO will procure 100,000 more vials of antiviral Remdesivir this month, doubling stock of the medicine to 200,000 vials.
The Covid-19 situation in Thailand continues to worsen, with a record 212 deaths and 21,838 cases reported yesterday, according to the Public Health Ministry.
Of the new cases, 20,915 were among the general population and 923 were inmates. In the last 24 hours, 21,108 patients were discharged from hospitals.
Since April 1, around when the third wave of Covid-19 began, there have been 707,659 Covid patients, 489,586 of whom have recovered.
According to the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration's Facebook page, the 212 people who died were aged between 31 and 97 years old, with an average age of 67. Of the total, 116 were men.
By nationality, 207 were Thais, two each were Myanmar nationals and Chinese and one was Indian. Four died at home in Samut Prakan (3) and Songkhla (1).
Ninety-six of those who died had either lived in or visited outbreak areas, 45 caught the virus from colleagues or caregivers and 41 got it from family members.
Bangkok had 99 new fatalities while its nearby provinces reported 46, including 23 in Samut Prakan, 10 in Samut Sakhon and seven in Pathum Thani.