AN ENORMOUS crowd of people thronged the exterior Bang Sue Central Station this holiday morning (July 28) with no thought about social distancing as they waited for their turn to go in and get a coronavirus jab, Thai Rath newspaper said.
With today being a holiday marking His Majesty the King’s birthday, people took the opportunity to go to this vaccination centre in the hope of getting a much-needed shot but in doing so they queued up close to each other with this heightening the risk of catching the feared infection.
As one might expect, some people jumped the queue leading to those who came before them having to wait longer.
This rush to get vaccinated occurred as the 24-hour Covid count jumped again this morning reaching 16,533 cases and 133 deaths.
The cumulative confirmed total since the start of the pandemic has now climbed to 543,361 and in the current wave that began in April 514,498. The additional fatalities raised the death toll to 4,397.
Of today’s large batch of cases, 13,447 emerged in surveillance and service centres, 2,874 through proactive search in communities, 202 in prisons and detention centres while 10 overseas arrivals were quarantined.
Another 10,051 patients were cured taking total recoveries to 360,694 with 178,270 still undergoing treatment of whom 4,325 are in serious condition and 995 requiring ventilators.
CAPTION:
The very long queues of people waiting patiently to be cleared for vaccination within Bang Sue Central Station. All photos: Thai Rath
