Thailand combating pandemic with several IT initiatives
During the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit COVID-2019, Prayut Chan-o-cha Prime Minister of Thailand said its Government was supporting proactive measures into combating the pandemic with several IT initiatives.
Prime Minister Chan-o-cha said its “midstream measures” includes launching a “Stay Home, Stop the Virus, For the Country” campaign; promoted social distancing; prepared state and local quarantine facilities for 14-day monitoring; using mobile applications to track and monitor quarantined individuals; closed high risk contagion areas and disseminated accurate information in a transparent manner and countered fake news.
He said, “downstream measures” includes an approved economic stimulus package of over 1.9 trillion Baht (approximately USD$60 billion) or 10 per cent of Thailand’s national GDP to “help people and businesses affected by COVID-19”.
“This includes the provision of income compensation for those who have had to stop working at this time, a reduction in utility fees as well as tax and financial measures to increase liquidity for businesses, especially MSMEs,” said the Prime Minister.
“The Government has supported proactive research into the development and procurement of medical equipment, a COVID-19 vaccine and supporting systems based on information technology.”
According to Prime Minister Chan-o-cha the COVID-19 situation has prompted him to declare a nationwide state of emergency effective from 26 March to 30 April 2020. His Government has also set-up the Centre for COVID-19 Situation Administration under my direct supervision.
“The measures undertaken by Thailand are in line with the WHO International Health Regulations 2005 and focus on comprehensively addressing the outbreak through upstream, midstream and downstream measures,” he said.
“In Thailand, there are 2,579 confirmed cases, with 40 deaths and 1,288 patients discharged from hospitals. Many patients have a record of overseas travel or participating in large public gatherings.”
COVID-19 situation has been intensifying globally, with about two million infected persons and more than 100,000 deaths.
“This crisis before all of us has not only resulted in loss of life and the undermining of the health of our people, but has also had far reaching socio-economic impacts,” said Prime Minister Chan-o-cha. “Leading private research and consultancy institutions such as McKinsey estimate that global GDP growth in 2020 may contract by 1.5 per cent.
He also implored ASEAN to work together to mitigate the economic and societal impact of the pandemic in the region.
“We are therefore at a critical moment where we must work together to control the spread of the virus and flatten the curve to a manageable level in line with the capacities of our public health systems so as to prevent ASEAN from becoming another epicentre of COVID-19,” he said.
