I mean one of the last "elected" Thai Health Minister, from 2002 to 2005, not the present one , not yet anyway.

Sudarat Keyuraphan is treated at the Bumrungrad Hospital in Bangkok with Tamiflu after tests confirmed she has the H1N1 virus.

She, of course, thinks that the present government does not do enough for containing the spread of the virus, which anyway she was probably also saying before being infected.

And it makes me wonder how so many Thai people get infected in the first place, I mean adult Thai people. We are told in Europe to not kiss the friends we meet, not even shake hands with them in order to limit the spread of the virus, but Thai people do not kiss the friends they meet, they do not shake hands, they wai at each other.

The spread of the virus should therefore be slower in Thailand than in "kissing countries" like France but it is not the case, on the contrary. Why is it so?

One of the reasons, I think, is that school holidays in Thailand, contrary to most of Europe, ended 2 months ago. It gave plenty of time for the virus to propagate in that fertile environment, and for the children to transmit the virus to adults. Giving Thailand a head start in the infection rate.

But we should catch up soon in Europe, schools will re-open next month and weather will get colder, perfect conditions for the H1N1 virus.