The Thai government has built a telemedicine platform to monitor COVID-19 patients with mild symptoms at home and at community isolation centres. 

Government agencies involved in its creation include the Digital Government Development Agency, the National Science and Technology Development Agency, the National Health Security Office, the Bangkok Health Bureau, and the state-owned National Telecommunications Company. 

WHY IT MATTERS

According to a local news report, the BKK HI Care platform enables remote patient monitoring by doctors. The system keeps a record of patients' daily food intake, treatments, prescriptions, and temperatures. The platform is accessible for nurses and doctors via Windows, iOS and Android mobile phones, tablets and computers.

The platform was built to keep COVID-19 patients with mild symptoms out of hospitals given the lack of hospital beds. Such patients who have signed up for the government's Home Isolation scheme via LINE messaging app are continuously monitored through the telemedicine system. 

The news report noted that about 285 healthcare facilities are remotely monitoring some 9,000 patients through the platform.

THE LARGER TREND

This week, a group of volunteer healthcare professionals in Thailand formed Comprehensive COVID-19 Response teams to help with the Ministry of Public Health's COVID-19 screening drive across the country. The government provided the 39 teams with about 300,000 antigen test kits to conduct free COVID-19 testing in communities until 10 August.

Meanwhile, the Public Health Ministry said it will also procure an additional 80 million Favipiravir, an antiviral medication for COVID-19 patients.

COVID-19 cases in Thailand hit an all-time daily high this week at above 20,000, fueled by the spread of the highly transmissible Delta variant. This brings its total infections to nearly 700,000 with 5,600 deaths, based on data from the Johns Hopkins COVID-19 Dashboard.