PUBLISHED : 1 Jan 2024 at 04:30
Infuenza, dengue fever and Covid-19 were the most widespread infectious diseases in Thailand in 2023, according to the Department of Disease Control (DDC).
Dr Thongchai Keeratihattayakorn, acting director-general of the department, said that from Jan 1 to Dec 16, there were 460,325 influenza patients, 29 of whom died. The biggest group of patients were aged between 5 and 14 years old. The number of influenza patients naturally rose when people became more lenient in their protection against Covid-19, he said.
For dengue fever, there were 147,412 patients from Jan 1 to Dec 13. The number was 3.4 times higher than last year’s figure.
The 174 dengue fatalities were spread across 54 provinces and most fatalities were aged 25-34 and had underlying illnesses, including obesity.
Dr Thongchai said dengue fever spread more when the country faced the El Nino weather phenomenon and any outbreak lasts for two years at a time. This year was the first.
For the Covid-19 pandemic, 37,863 people were admitted to hospitals from Jan 1 to Dec 23. Of them, 845 died and 114 suffered lung inflammation.
The disease spread continuously from last year and cases peaked from April to July. However, the number of cases and the seriousness of symptoms were lower than a few years ago, Dr Thongchai said.
Meanwhile, the National Health Security Board approved a 153 million baht budget to buy 408,500 doses of vaccines against whooping cough (pertussis). It expects to administer the vaccine to pregnant women and infants, especially in the southern provinces where the vaccination rate is low.