Thailand Ministry of Health reports 24,892 new COVID-19 cases and an additional 97 deaths since yesterday. The ministry also announced that an additional 27,254 patients recovered from the COVID-19 virus.
On Saturday, the Center for Medical Genomics in Ramathibodi Hospital reported the mutant hybrid of the BA.1 and BA.2 variants. The XE subvariant mutation was found in one Thai patient.
The government in response said that there is no need to panic as it is not believed to result in as many complications. The patient where the sample was found had already fully recovered from COVID.
Dr. Supakit Sirilak, director-general of the Department of Medical Sciences (DMS) said that the rise in cases is due to Deltacron. It is a subvariant that is a combination of Omicron and Delta variants.
In the case of XE, it is a combination of two subvariants of Omicron, BA.1 and BA.2. Both variants are more contagious but not as deadly as the other variants. So it is most likely that this new mutation could be more contagious but not that deadly.
The DMS is performing genomic sequencing on about 500 virus samples a week. They will be holding a press briefing today to provide more information about the XE case and its implications.
The World Health Organization (WHO) had also on Saturday issued a warning over the XE Omicron variant. They said that many in the medical field fear could be the most transmissible yet. The XE recombinant was first detected in the UK on Jan 19 and less than 600 sequences have been reported.
Anan Jongkaewwattana, an expert with the National Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (Biotec) said that those recovered from BA.2 variant may carry immunity. “Don’t be more afraid of XE than BA.2 as that strain has already been around town,” he said.