Thailand Ministry of Health reports 6,230 new COVID-19 cases and an additional 53 deaths since yesterday. The ministry also announced an additional 11,132 patients recovered from the COVID-19 virus.
According to the Ministry of Public Health’s Department of Medical Sciences, at least one foreign individual has been found harboring an Omicron sub-variant that has the potential to cause severe illnesses.
According to Supakit Sirilak, director-general of the DoMS, Omicron has become the dominant coronavirus strain in Thailand, with the BA.2 sub-variant accounting for 97.6% of infections.
According to him, the ministry has heeded the WHO’s warning about the introduction of three infectious Omicron sub-variants: BA.4, BA.5, and BA.2.12.1.
BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron subvariants were detected for the first time in South Africa in January and February, respectively, he said, while BA.2.12.1 was discovered in the United States in February.
Sub-variants BA.4 and BA.5 have now been discovered spreading in a number of nations, including Botswana, South Africa, Germany, and Denmark, while BA.2.12.1 has been discovered in Canada and India, according to him.
According to him, WHO whole-genome sequencing (WGS) in Thailand recently verified that a Brazilian national contracted BA.5, while two others, an Indian and a Canadian, contracted BA.2.12.
Sub-variants BA.2.12.1 and BA.4 have yet to be detected in Thailand, according to Dr Supakit.
According to the WGS results, some sections of the BA.4 genome sequences are comparable to those of the BA.1 and BA.2 sub-strains.
According to him, the spike protein could undergo mutations similar to how the earlier Delta variation arose.
BA.1 infected people have limited immunity to BA.4 and BA.5 sub-variants, according to Dr. Supakit. He claims that persons who have been fully vaccinated have better immunity to the two sub-variants.