Thailand has been ranked 5th place, and 1st place in Asia, in the 2021 Global Health Security Index. In 1st place are the United States, followed by Australia, Finland and Canada.
The 2021 Global Health Security Index, released on Wednesday, ranks 195 countries according to their capacity to respond to epidemics and pandemics, as assessed by John Hopkins Centre for Health Security, at Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, and experts from numerous countries.
More than 80% of countries have no plan for distributing vaccines or medications during an emergency, while 70% lack sufficient capacity hospital capacity, clinics and health centres, the report found.
Although many nations have funnelled resources into addressing the acute COVID-19 crisis, few have made dedicated investment to improve overall emergency preparedness.
Thailand’s Deputy Government Spokesperson, Rachada Dhnadirek, said today (Friday) that Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha thanked all the frontline medical personnel and public health volunteers, everyone in the public and private sectors as well as the public for their cooperation in the collective fight to contain the COVID-19 pandemic, which has won worldwide recognition for the country.
Thailand was ranked 6th in the previous Global Health Security Index.
Ms. Rachada said that the pandemic situation in Thailand is showing signs of improvement, with fewer deaths and new infections, but the prime minister still insists on RT-PCR tests for high-risk groups of people and all foreign arrivals, as well as cluster random tests and the need to wear face masks all the time while outdoors.
