Thailand reports one new COVID-19 case in quarantine today
A woman and a boy wearing face masks walk past Harrods’ mascot bears wearing face masks in a shopping mall in Bangkok on July 10, 2020. (Photo by Mladen ANTONOV / AFP)
Thailand today (Saturday) recorded one new COVID-19 case, among returnees in state quarantine, five new recoveries and good news on vaccine development in the country.
According to the CCSA, the new case is a 30-year Thai woman, who arrived from the Netherlands on August 15th and entered state quarantine in Chon Buri province. She cleared the first test, but was found to be infected in the second test on August 26th.
Cumulative infections in Thailand, to date, are 3,411, with 3,242 recoveries and 58 deaths. The other 111 cases are still being treated in hospital.
Meanwhile, Dr. Thiravat Hemachudha, head of the Centre for Emerging Infectious Diseases at Chulalongkorn Hospital, said on Facebook today that a Thai startup company, Baiya Faitofarm, has successfully developed an anti-COVID-19 vaccine candidate and plans to build a vaccine production facility in Thailand.
The vaccine has been tested on mice and monkeys, by injecting two doses in three weeks. It was discovered that the vaccine candidate boosted neutralizing antibodies, which can stop the replication of the virus in monkeys without side effects, said Dr. Thiravat.
The outstanding characteristic of this candidate is that the production process is not complicated and millions of doses can be produced simply by upgrading the laboratory into an industrial unit.
