Foreign Covid-19 case had Sinopharm, domestic bigger concern

[Thaiger]

More information is coming out now about the first Phuket Sandbox traveller to be infected with Covid-19 yesterday. The man from the United Arab Emirates was fully vaccinated with the Sinopharm vaccine more than 7 months ago and had tested negative before boarding his flight to Phuket. But while infections from abroad make headlines, the Phuket Provincial Public Health Office says we should be more concerned about domestic Covid-19 infections making their way into Phuket. The international Covid-19 infection was one member from a group of 14 aboard Emirates flight EK378 that arrived in Phuket just after noon on Tuesday. […]

The post Foreign Covid-19 case had Sinopharm, domestic bigger concern appeared first on Thaiger News.

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[Shark]

There's more then sufficient news out on the internet that Sinopharm is just utterly worthless for even the alpha variant of covid-19.

I'm surprised that Thailand decided to buy Sinopharm when it had AstraZeneca and Sinovac already lined up in their vaccination campaign.

Let's hope we get enough vaccines and get everyone fully vaccinated soon with AZ/Moderna/Pfizer and for those whom received a Chinese vaccine let them be boosted or buy boosters.

[Guevara]

If this gentleman had Sinopharm over 7 months ago, it was during stage 3 of clinical trials by the Chinese Biopharmaceutical company. It didn't receive the 'blessing' from WHO until late January 2021.

Aside from that, more Countries are giving both Sinovac and Sinopharm a wide berth due to their questionable efficacy and adverse effects.

[Gigi]

And I, after this misadventure of the positive and the 14 locked up in the hotel, should I go to Phuket? I can't understand how these people book the trip !!!

[EdwardV]

Sinopharm is generally considered the better between it and Sinovac. 

[Rat441]

If this gentleman had Sinopharm over 7 months ago, it was during stage 3 of clinical trials by the Chinese Biopharmaceutical company.

Not necessarily correct. The UAE conducted its own extensive clinical trials on the Sinopharm vaccine, before rolling it out, and reported that it was actually more effective than the Chinese manufacturer had claimed. There is a risk that people will confuse Sinopharm and Sinovac. They are not the same vaccine and Sinopharm has shown to be considerably more effective than Sinovac, in all the trials published so far. They also work via the established, conventional  vaccine i.e. inactivated virus, as opposed to MRNA. Whilst Pfizer and AZ have shown to be more effective, so far, this is new vaccine technology and nobody knows the long-term benefits or otherwise of any of the vaccines. The global population is a guinea pig for the the time being! 

[Anto501]

This was a complete game changer for me can't risk my holiday by just simply being on the same flight /bus etc as someone who tests positive. The world either starts to trust the vaccine or it doesn't. All studies point point to the fact they aren't great at stopping infection but are highly effective at stopping hospitalisation which was the point of this in the first place. Shut off the rest of thailand if need be but you can't expect holiday makers to spend 14 days in quarantine just because someone else in there group is positive. I was going to come mid August but if this is repeated I'll look elsewhere.

Daily lamp tests would be one solution to locking down a whole tour group.

[Anto501]

To avoid that should have said

[9S_]

2 hours ago, Shark said:

Let's hope we get enough vaccines and get everyone fully vaccinated soon with AZ/Moderna/Pfizer and for those whom received a Chinese vaccine let them be boosted or buy boosters.

By October is the optimistic timeline….

[HolyCowCm]

Well at least he didn’t Sinoboughtthefarm (USA slang),

[Shark]

2 hours ago, 9S_ said:

By October is the optimistic timeline….

realistically mostlikely january next year.

[JohninDublin]

4 hours ago, Gigi said:

And I, after this misadventure of the positive and the 14 locked up in the hotel, should I go to Phuket? I can't understand how these people book the trip !!!

I think the problem for the other 14 might best be described as "guilt by association" as they were all part of the same group and were thus deemed "close contacts".

Presuming that he were not part of the group, even though they all stayed in the same hotel, had he arrived there separately from them, they would probably all be on the beach by now.

[AdvocatusDiaboli]

Also have not heard about the domestic tourists that were “close contacts” over the last week that flew in from Bangkok. What happened to them, are they in controlled isolation? Hope this is not just happening to the foreign tourists, if so some questions need to be asked.

[JohninDublin]

3 hours ago, Anto501 said:

This was a complete game changer for me can't risk my holiday by just simply being on the same flight /bus etc as someone who tests positive. The world either starts to trust the vaccine or it doesn't. All studies point point to the fact they aren't great at stopping infection but are highly effective at stopping hospitalisation which was the point of this in the first place. Shut off the rest of thailand if need be but you can't expect holiday makers to spend 14 days in quarantine just because someone else in there group is positive. I was going to come mid August but if this is repeated I'll look elsewhere.

Daily lamp tests would be one solution to locking down a whole tour group.

It's not "the vaccine". It's a vaccine; specifically the Sinopharm vax, which has probably the worst efficacy rate of all the vaxxes approved to date at 50-55% effective, and that was before the Delta variant arrived.

Sinopharm have form for prior dubious vaxxes. Several years ago, multiple children died in Phils after being given a Sinovax for Dengue Fever.

Regarding the quarantine of the other 14, this was because they were all in the same travel group so they were deemed close contacts and isolated for that reason. I am pretty sure that if you had arrived at the same hotel as them, but had travelled separately, you would still be able to enjoy the freedom to roam. Based on that, my advice would be that the more people you have in a group, the more likely that one will be infected and the whole group will need to be isolated. Solo travellers only have to worry about themselves.

[BJoe]

Really, why would anyone chance this Phuket Sandbox RIPOFF.  Test negative at Point of Departure, one of your group testing positive at Point of Entry, fully vaccinated, over-price medical insurance, overpriced hotel accommodations and testing procedures, over priced transportation, restricted tourist venues…..all in all,   an overpriced vacation, with substandard tourist venues.    THEN spending half of your time in quarantine !    And,  understand, in a country much more dangerous of being infected than the one you left.    Thailand is the epitome of hypocrisy. Not enough of it’s population vaccinated, a limited amount of  substandard CCP vaccines purchased, an insecure border allowing unvaccinated migrant workers access to the population, unsanctioned entertainment venues traced to mass infections……….and the government’s primary concern are vaccinated tourist.

[JohninDublin]

14 minutes ago, BJoe said:

Really, why would anyone chance this Phuket Sandbox RIPOFF.  Test negative at Point of Departure, one of your group testing positive at Point of Entry, fully vaccinated, over-price medical insurance, overpriced hotel accommodations and testing procedures, over priced transportation, restricted tourist venues…..all in all,   an overpriced vacation, with substandard tourist venues.    THEN spending half of your time in quarantine !    And,  understand, in a country much more dangerous of being infected than the one you left.    Thailand is the epitome of hypocrisy. Not enough of it’s population vaccinated, a limited amount of  substandard CCP vaccines purchased, an insecure border allowing unvaccinated migrant workers access to the population, unsanctioned entertainment venues traced to mass infections……….and the government’s primary concern are vaccinated tourist.

Not sure what you mean by "Test negative at Point of Departure, ". The tests are required within 72 hours of departure, as they take about 24 hours to process. So most people will have been tested at least 24 hours before they reach their point of departure. That is sufficient time to test negative and become infected. But more importantly, the PCR tests have a failure rate of about 15%. Add to that, you might have become infected 24 hours earlier, and the viral load is so small as to be undetectable in any case. Allowing say for a 20 hour flight which is what I need to take to avoid LHR, and the possibility that I was infected 24 hours prior to my test. I might pass the test at home, and by the time I get to Phuket, I've been carrying it for 5 days nearly.

The test when you arrive at  Phuket, reduces the error rate to about 2.5%. There is I believe a third test, 7 days in, and this reduces the risk to 0.3%

[bushav8r]

3 hours ago, BJoe said:

Really, why would anyone chance this Phuket Sandbox RIPOFF.  Test negative at Point of Departure, one of your group testing positive at Point of Entry, fully vaccinated, over-price medical insurance, overpriced hotel accommodations and testing procedures, over priced transportation, restricted tourist venues…..all in all,   an overpriced vacation, with substandard tourist venues.    THEN spending half of your time in quarantine !    And,  understand, in a country much more dangerous of being infected than the one you left.    Thailand is the epitome of hypocrisy. Not enough of it’s population vaccinated, a limited amount of  substandard CCP vaccines purchased, an insecure border allowing unvaccinated migrant workers access to the population, unsanctioned entertainment venues traced to mass infections……….and the government’s primary concern are vaccinated tourist.

I would chance  it in a heartbeat.  I am still leaning towards an ASQ hotel in Bangkok, but it seems like a viable alternative,  You can only be ripped off if you let someone rip you off.

[JamesE]

12 minutes ago, bushav8r said:

You can only be ripped off if you let someone rip you off.

Oh, sure. Victim blaming. And here I thought you were "woke".

I'm with you on ASQ in BKK. Sandbox seems like way more hoops. (Although... Samui is nice...) Two weeks with some books, Thai lessons on YouTube, at a hotel with decent food and I'll be a happy camper.

[bushav8r]

I am not a victim.  Perhaps you are.  it is you who must wake up,  Can you smell coffee?

[Exile]

9 hours ago, JohninDubin said:

Regarding the quarantine of the other 14, this was because they were all in the same travel group so they were deemed close contacts and isolated for that reason. I am pretty sure that if you had arrived at the same hotel as them, but had travelled separately, you would still be able to enjoy the freedom to roam. Based on that, my advice would be that the more people you have in a group, the more likely that one will be infected and the whole group will need to be isolated. Solo travellers only have to worry about themselves.

The part about a travel group of 14 was a lie. It has since been known the entire flight was sent to quarantine.  The flight only had 15 passengers.

[AussieBob]

One thing that has become clear to me about this episode and the post, is that many people think a Covid vaccine is some sort of protection against getting Covid - it is not and they are not.  A covid vaccine stops a person who has caught covid from having an extremely bad medical response to the covid virus.  It is like the annual flu vaccine - it is not a 'cure' or a 'fire proof' method - what it does is make it nowhere near as bad when you catch covid.  The vaccines make your immune system 'triggered' to fight the infection - before you catch the infection - so that when you catch it you are not as sick.

Covid is not going away - ever.  It will become 'latent' like SARS or MERS or Influenza A or Influenza B - and all their various mutations and adaptations - but all those viruses are not going to 'go away' - ever.  What is going to happen eventually (hopefully soon) is that Covid becomes like Influenza A and B, and the overall world population has a level of herd immunity - from vaccines and from catching it. In the future we will get the annual 'flu vaccine' which will include the latest A, B, Covid mutations.  Swine Flu or H1N1 is a mutation of Influenza A - it is now included in the annual flu vaccines - hopefully that is what will happen with Covid19 soon.  

   

[bushav8r]

1 minute ago, AussieBob said:

One thing that has become clear to me about this episode and the post, is that many people think a Covid vaccine is some sort of protection against getting Covid - it is not and they are not.  A covid vaccine stops a person who has caught covid from having an extremely bad medical response to the covid virus.  It is like the annual flu vaccine - it is not a 'cure' or a 'fire proof' method - what it does is make it nowhere near as bad when you catch covid.  The vaccines make your immune system 'triggered' to fight the infection - before you catch the infection - so that when you catch it you are not as sick.

Covid is not going away - ever.  It will become 'latent' like SARS or MERS or Influenza A or Influenza B - and all their various mutations and adaptations - but all those viruses are not going to 'go away' - ever.  What is going to happen eventually (hopefully soon) is that Covid becomes like Influenza A and B, and the overall world population has a level of herd immunity - from vaccines and from catching it. In the future we will get the annual 'flu vaccine' which will include the latest A, B, Covid mutations.  Swine Flu or H1N1 is a mutation of Influenza A - it is now included in the annual flu vaccines - hopefully that is what will happen with Covid19 soon.  

We can only wait and see,  No one else on the planet shares your clarity on this issue.

[BookShe]

It is somewhat disgusting, this small fact was never mentioned in the propaganda. If any person tested positive in the same group, bus, flight the whole group can say goodbye to their vacation. I guess it's a small problem for returnees, family members, ex-pats, since the other option for them would be an ASQ anyways, but for real tourists who might come here for two weeks, this will be hell for sure. Locals from Bangkok can enter the island with a PCR test no older than 7 days. SEVEN DAYS. Knowing the fact that the delta is more infectious and transmissible. It's insane. Ohh I almost forgot to mention the 500 meter long waterways between the mainland and Phuket in case you wanna skip the bridge. Pfff

[Shark]

18 hours ago, EdwardV said:

Sinopharm is generally considered the better between it and Sinovac. 

I can tell you... people whom actually understand medicine better then me (they have a degree in this)... disagree on this statement.

My best choice of the available 3 was AstraZeneca and worst Sinopharm. This leaves Sinovac in the middle.

[JohninDublin]

7 hours ago, Exile said:

The part about a travel group of 14 was a lie. It has since been known the entire flight was sent to quarantine.  The flight only had 15 passengers.

I have not seen that. Source please. Regardless, from what I've read, these were all part of the same travel group. So the question is, what would have happened if there were other people on that plane who were not part of that group.  Were the crew also confined? 

I don't doubt your good faith, but if that is correct, I would expect to see a story from the country at the point of departure, that the crew was also quarantined.