BANGKOK (The Nation/Asia News Network): Thailand has recorded its first two cases of the new Covid-19 subvariant XBB, the Public Health Ministry said on Monday (Oct 17).
Two women – one Thai and one foreigner – tested positive for the new and highly transmissible strain of Omicron, according to the ministry’s Medical Sciences Department (MSD).
MSD chief Dr Supakit Sirilak said there was no need to panic since the XBB strain, like other Omicron subvariants, is a weak version of the virus.
He added that in Singapore, XBB is now the dominant Covid strain of Covid but there had been no spike in the ratio of cases with severe symptoms.
Thailand’s first XBB case is a 48-year-old Thai woman who developed a cough and blocked nose before visiting hospital on September 27. She tested positive for Covid but did not develop fever and recovered on October 6 after two weeks of home isolation.
The second case was a 60-year-old foreign woman who developed a cough and tested positive with an ATK kit a day before visiting hospital the next day on Sept 28.
A recent arrival from Hong Kong, she recovered after hotel isolation from September 28 to October 7. She had neither a cough nor a fever during isolation.
Supakit said XBB strain is a recombinant strain of BJ.1 (BA.2.10.11) and BM.1.1.1 (BA.2.75.3.1.1.1) – both offshoots of Omicron BA.2 variant.
Thailand records first cases of highly infectious XBB Covid
On Saturday, Supakit announced Thailand was screening arrivals for XBB after three people from Thailand tested positive in Hong Kong last week.
The XBB strain was first detected in Singapore and the United States in August. So far, over 260 XBB cases have been reported globally.
Supakit said the health officials last week screened the DNA of 128 Covid samples and found 126 were Omicron BA.4 or BA.5 subvariants, mostly BA.5. The remaining two were BA.2 while the Delta, Alpha and Beta variants were not found.
Apart from the XBB subvariants, other strains that have been detected in Thailand include BA.2.75.2 (eight cases), BN.1 or BA.2.75.5.1 (10 cases) and BF.7 (two cases).
Supakit said Thailand would upload data on the two XBB cases to the global Covid tracking project GISAID.
He said data on the two BF.7 cases was uploaded last month. The first case was a 16-year-old foreign child living in Bangkok and the second a 62-year-old female Thai medical worker in Bangkok. Neither developed severe symptoms, Supakit added.
Of the 53 people who died of Covid in Thailand last week, most had underlying illnesses and/or were unvaccinated, said Dr Jakkarat Pitthayawong-anan, director of epidemiology at the Disease Control Department.
Only 4.9 per cent of hospital beds were occupied by Covid patients while the number being treated for lung problems was 2,200.
National Institute of Health director Dr Archawin Rojanawiwat advised people who develop symptoms during the upcoming flu season after the monsoon to test themselves with ATK kits to check whether an Omicron infection is responsible.
