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Thailand COVID Update April 16, 2022

Thailand COVID Update April 16, 2022

Thailand Ministry of Health reports 18,892 new COVID-19 cases and an additional 125 deaths since yesterday. The ministry also announced an additional 22,220 patients recovered from the COVID-19 virus.

In a recent study of COVID transmissibility in public spaces such as public toilets and elevators, experts found that people could get infected easily. This prompted experts to warn the public not to remove face masks when in such places.

A team of researchers from Chulabhorn Research Institute led by Researcher Kwanrawee Sirikanchana conducted the study. Public spaces like public toilets increase the risk of airborne transmission. The study was published in the Journal of Water and Health. The study focuses on the effects of facemasks and ventilation on the transmissibility of COVID in public toilets.

The study focused on the scenario of using public toilets after an infected person has used them. One subject used a face mask while the other used an N95 or surgical face mask. The study concluded that there is a 10% chance that the next person could catch COVID. It shows a 100% possibility if the person was not wearing any masks. The risk is reduced to 0.01% when a mask is worn or of there is a 10-minute wait time in between. Face masks offered the best solution when in such public places.

Thammanitchpol Denpetkul, a lecturer at the faculty of tropical medicine at Mahidol University said that the COVID particles are as small as that of the PM 2.5 dust particles. In such instances, N95, KN95, KF94, and FFP2 offer the most effective protection.

“Some cloth masks may not be good enough to protect against the virus … but if someone uses an N95 mask and wears it properly, the risk is one in 100,000,” he said.

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