Regime’s virus failure

Gen Prayuth Chan-ocha have failed in many areas, but on the virus they are shown to be hopeless.

In 2020, after some awful initial decisions, not least those by the military and Health Minister

Anutin unmasked. Clipped from Der Farang.

Anutin Charnvirakul, for reasons unknown – perhaps fear – the regime handed over virus control to medical professionals. Aided by some luck – many Thais were mask wearing because of terrible air pollution – and a network of local health workers put in place from the 1980s, Thailand became something of a star performer. The virus case load was reduced and was kept low.

For reasons unknown – perhaps arrogance – in 2021, the dopes in the regime were set free. The result is the highest daily infection rates seen in the country: 25 deaths and 9,635 new cases in a 24-hour period.

The blockhead regime has failed. To emphasize this, these statistics came only a couple of days after Gen Prayuth announced that his “government has waived the face-mask rule for speakers during parliament sessions and meetings, although MPs are only allowed to take off their masks when speaking.” The relaxation “also applies to meetings nationwide and will remain in place until further notice.”

Apisamai Srirangson, an assistant spokeswoman for the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA), was reported as insisting “the main regulation requiring the public to wear a face mask when in public has not been relaxed and only specific exceptions are being made for speakers at some important … meetings.”

The accelerating virus numbers came as Gen Prayuth allowed “the resumption of limited dine-in services in restaurants in four dark red zone provinces, including Bangkok.”

And, recall that it was only a few days ago that Corrections Department director-general Aryut Sinthoppan declared that “he considered the number of infected inmates [in his prisons] to be small when compared to the number of infections throughout the country.” Today, it is reported that “9,789 Covid-19 infections have been found during testing at 12 prisons over the past five days…”. According to The Nation’s data, Chiang Mai Central Prison has an infection rate of almost 61% while the Bangkok Remand Prison infection rate is about 65%.

We hardly even need to mention the regime’s ideological decision to put all of its initial vaccine faith in the king’s company, which is still not delivering any vaccine. Hence the rush to buy more/any vaccine.

This is a potential disaster for the country, delivered from a regime of dunces. Because the regime’s response has been politicized and even personalized by a dullard Minister of Transportation, it seems unlikely that the medical professionals can get back control. With so little vaccination, the next few days and weeks portend spiraling cases.