Management of the Public Health Emerging Situation in Handling COVID-19, Surat Thani Province: Lesson Learnt

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to review the management of the public health emerging situation in handling with COVID-19 in Surat Thani Province in order to identify lessons learnt from the operation. The data were collected from key stakeholders during 13-17 December 2021. There were 86 informants purposively selected consisted of health professionals whose task was related to COVID-19 prevention and control in the province. The data quality was verified by triangulation method. The data were analyzed using content analysis by grouping and describing in accordance with the research questions. It was found that the management of public health emerging situations to handle COVID-19 in Surat Thani province consisted of (1) capture, (2) case management and infection control, (3) contact tracing, (4) communication, (5) community intervention and law enforcement, and (6) coordinating and and managing unified information center. These approaches should be efficiently applied to strengthen the surveillance, prevention, and control system in order to handle the health emergency situation associated with the spread of COVID-19.