Thailand Ministry of Health reports 19,742 new COVID-19 cases and an additional 70 deaths since yesterday. The ministry also announced an additional 24,125 recovered patients.
The Public Health Ministry reports 4 cases of COVID infections that were of the new mutant strain found in Hong Kong. They assured it is of no grave concern at the moment.
Director-general of the Department of Medical Sciences, Supakit Sirilak said that most of the cases now are of the BA.2 subvariant.
There were 2000 samples sent for genome sequencing last week. 99.7% are of the omicron variant whereas 68% are from the BA.2. subvariant. The original strain, BA.1 accounted for 32% of the total samples. However, four of them were suspected to be the BA.2.2 subvariant causing an outbreak in Hong Kong.
These samples will be submitted to the international database compiled by GISAID to confirm the sequence.
The four suspected cases were from 3 Thais and 1 foreigner. All of them have already fully recovered from COVID.
“There is no need to panic as there are no worrying signs. But we have to be vigilant and answer three questions. Does it spread more quickly? Will it cause more deaths and can it evade our efforts to boost immunity?” Dr. Supakit said.
Hong Kong is currently facing a wave that has recorded the highest fatality rate so far. He says it is too early to say if it was truly caused by the new mutation.
“The Omicron strain is highly transmissible, so when the public health system is unable to cope with the surge, it may result in more deaths,” he said.
Deputy director-general of the DMS, Banlang Uppapong said that there are other factors to consider. The age of those who died, vaccination record, health history, and healthcare system capacity.