OPINION

Missing figures

It is strange that the Bangkok Post has stopped publishing updated numbers of Covid fatalities by country.

It appears to coincide with the numbers for Britain no longer looking much worse than those, for example, of Italy, France, Germany or Spain. Why is this? I think we should be told.

Re: "FDA warns against using animal drugs as Covid cure", (BP, June 30).

Your article creates a wrong impression of this issue. The deputy secretary-general of Thailand's FDA is under the impression that Ivermectin is an animal drug. This may be the case in Thailand but in many countries, especially in Africa, Ivermectin is prescribed to people and taken routinely as a prophylactic for parasitic diseases. Ivermectin has been taken for over 40 years and has an excellent safety record. Of four billion doses given, only 16 deaths have ever been recorded.

The 23 African countries where Ivermectin has been provided by the governments have all fared significantly better in the Covid-19 pandemic than the rest.

Several studies have shown Ivermectin to be efficacious in preventing infection and lessening the symptoms and morbidity of Covid.

A recent study published in the American Journal of Therapeutics concluded that Ivermectin probably reduces deaths by 62% and reduces transmission of Covid to others by 86%. Oxford University has begun a study and the results will hopefully be available in the coming months.

The world is waking up to the possibilities of finding therapeutic treatments for Covid, and hopefully these will complement the effects of the campaigns.

Re: "As govt babbles, people feel the Covid curb pain", (Opinion, June 29).

Atiya Achakulwisut was right that for Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha to make jokes immediately after more than 5,000 cases of Covid-19 infection and 50 deaths were reported in just one day was not funny at all.

It's about time our PM started regarding this deadly situation in a serious manner -- otherwise the jokes will be on him and him alone.

I am a visitor to Thailand and find the quarantine period imposed for people landing in the capital unreasonable.

This is very unfair to the other provinces.

It would be better to allow individual provinces to manage their own set of rules and report to the central government in Bangkok for approval.

In other words, it is better to be decentralised.

Even with the "Phuket Sandbox" I think it's much too much to spend if one wants to go there.

I understand the government's idea of imposing such rules but it will give potential visitors second thoughts about coming here.

Re: "Americans must wait for vaccines", (BP, June 24).

It's a sign of a nation in decline when that country is no longer capable or willing to protect and care for its citizens wherever they reside in the world. The United States' failure to provide Covid-19 vaccines to Americans living throughout the world is a sad testimony to the weakening power and influence of the once-great superpower. In the 1960s, the US sent a man to the moon; today, it can't send a pallet of vaccines to Thailand.