This archive report was first published on 17 July 2020.
Thailand's Low Coronavirus Infection Rate: A Mystery ¶
As of July 17, 2020, Thailand has recorded fewer than 3,240 cases and 58 deaths, with no local transmission for about seven weeks, despite an influx of foreign visitors early in the year.
One of the factors that may have contributed to Thailand's low infection rate is the social distancing embedded in Thai culture, where people greet each other with a wai, a prayer-like motion, rather than a full embrace.
Dr. Taweesin Visanuyothin, the Covid-19 spokesman for Thailand's Ministry of Public Health, attributes the country's low infection rate to its culture, saying, 'Thai people do not have body contact when we greet each other.'
Thailand's early adoption of face masks, combined with a robust health care system, may also have played a role in blunting the virus's impact.
Other countries in the Mekong River basin, such as Vietnam, Myanmar, Cambodia, and Laos, have also reported low infection rates, with Vietnam recording no deaths and Cambodia logging about three months without a case of community transmission.
Despite Thailand's success in containing the virus, the country's tourism-dependent economy has been battered, with the International Monetary Fund predicting the Thai economy will shrink by at least 6.5 percent this year.
Dr. Wiput Phoolcharoen, a public health expert at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, is researching an outbreak of the coronavirus in Pattani in southern Thailand and notes that more than 90 percent of those who tested positive were asymptomatic, much higher than normal.
