Border reopening halted by Delta Plus

The country has detected its first local case of a Delta Plus sublineage less than a week before a planned nationwide reopening for vaccinated international visitors.

One case of Delta subtype AY.1 was reported in the northern province of Kamphaeng Phet, while 18 cases of Alpha Plus, which has been spreading in neighbouring Cambodia, have been reported in three provinces, Supakit Sirilak, director-general of the Department of Medical Sciences, said yesterday.

The local Delta Plus case was found in a patient at a field hospital by the Armed Forces Research Institute of Medical Sciences, he said.

Thailand has so far detected 19 Delta subtypes, and AY.30 is the most common with more than 1,300 cases, Health Ministry data showed.

AY.4.2 sublineage, which was designated a Variant Under Investigation by the UK Health Security Agency, still hasn’t been detected in Thailand, and health officials will continue to collect more samples and investigate cases, Supakit said.

“The emergence of new variants is common during an outbreak, and it’ll be a significant occurrence if the variant is more infectious, lead to more severe cases, or more resistant to vaccines,” said Deputy Health Minister Satit Pitutecha. — Bloomberg