Covid-19 epidemic returns to China, Thailand and many Asian countries
The Covid-19 epidemic is showing signs of returning in many countries and territories in Asia. Although most of the current cases only show mild symptoms, health experts still warn against complacency.
Covid-19 epidemic returns in many Asian countries
InThailand, from January 1 to May 10, recorded more than 53,000 Covid-19 infections, including 16 deaths. The capital Bangkok has the highest number of cases, with more than 16,000 cases. The epidemic peaked in the week from April 27 to May 3, when the number of cases exceeded 14,000, but the following week it dropped to more than 12,000 cases.
Thai Health Minister Somsak Thepsutin said people do not need to worry too much, because Covid-19 is currently classified as an endemic disease and mainly causes mild symptoms.
However, he still recommends that people wear masks in public, get tested quickly when there are signs of suspicion, and avoid contact with high-risk people if they are unfortunately infected.
According to Mr. Somsak, the rapid increase in the number of infections in recent times may be due to the Omicron sub-variant XBB.1.16 and crowded activities during the Songkran water festival season.
Although Covid-19 is still contagious, the level of danger has now clearly decreased, and people should stay calm and take proactive measures to protect public health.
InSingapore, the number of Covid-19 cases continued to rise. In the week from April 27 to May 3, the number of cases reached 14,200, up from 11,100 the previous week. However, the number of cases requiring intensive care decreased slightly from 3 to 2, while the number of hospitalizations increased from 102 to 133.
InChina, over the past two months, the number of Covid-19 infections has increased slightly. The positive rate in cases with flu-like symptoms increased from 7.5% to 16.2% between March 31 and May 4. For severe acute respiratory infections, the positive rate also increased from 3.3% to 6.3%.
Situation atHong Kongmore serious. Within a month, the number of deaths due to Covid-19 increased from 3 to 26. There were 75 severe cases in adults, mostly elderly people, of whom 85% were over 65 years old and nearly 64% lived in nursing homes. Notably, more than 95% of severe cases were people with underlying medical conditions and had not received a booster dose of the vaccine in the past 6 months.
The positivity rate of respiratory samples in Hong Kong is now 11.42%, the highest in nearly a year. There have been 32 outbreaks in nursing homes in the past four weeks, affecting 177 residents, most of whom were not vaccinated. There were five new outbreaks in the first two days of this week alone.
InTaiwan, the number of visits to the emergency room for Covid-19 nearly reached 10,000 in the week from May 4 to May 10, up 66% from the previous week. This is the fifth consecutive week of rising cases, and officials predict June will be the peak of the epidemic.
In the first week of May, Taiwan’s CDC recorded six deaths and 34 severe cases. The number of new cases is now about 40% of last year’s peak, indicating that the situation still needs to be closely monitored.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said the Omicron sub-variant XBB.1.16 has been around since 2023. It is more transmissible, but there is no evidence so far that it causes more severe symptoms. The WHO has not issued a new global alert about the variant.
Covid-19 situation in Vietnam
Since the beginning of 2025, Vietnam has recorded 148 cases of COVID-19 scattered across 27 provinces and cities. No deaths have been reported. Ho Chi Minh City has the highest number of cases with 34 people infected, followed by Hai Phong with 21 cases and Hanoi with 19 cases.
Some other localities such as Bac Ninh, Nghe An, Quang Ninh also recorded a relatively large number of cases. However, the whole country did not have a large outbreak and the number of cases only increased slightly in the past three weeks, averaging about 20 cases per week.
Although the global pandemic is on a downward trend, the increase in cases in Bangkok, Thailand after the Lunar New Year holiday has many experts warning of the possibility of an outbreak related to the XBB.1.16 sub-variant, especially when there are large gatherings.
Faced with the epidemic, the Ministry of Health has proactively strengthened surveillance at medical facilities as well as in the community, and implemented many preventive measures to limit the spread.
The Ministry of Health also recommends that people planning to travel from countries with high numbers of cases should pay attention to monitoring their health to protect themselves and the community. Vietnam will continue to closely coordinate with the World Health Organization (WHO) to closely monitor the epidemic situation and take appropriate prevention and control measures to minimize risks for people.
