Omicron Update: 2,062 infections in 54 Thailand provinces

Thailand and hope to avoid an outbreak of Omicron for as long as possible, but the highly transmissible variance spread was unavoidable. Now there are over 2,000 cases of Omicron infections across 54 provinces in Thailand according to the Department of Medical Science.

DMS Director-General Dr Supakit Sirilak discussed the spread of Omicron and detailed the provinces with the most infections yesterday. He said that the new variant, with 2,062 infections discovered so far, now made up 20% of all new infections in Thailand, while most of the other 80% remained Delta variant infections.

Bangkok, as usual due to its sheer relative population size, has become the epicentre of the Omicron outbreak, surpassing the Northeastern province of Kalasin where the first major cluster in Thailand was centred. The capital city has 7 local infections amongst the 585 total cases in the city.

Bangkok infections are much more slanted towards imported infections when compared to Kalasin where a couple returning from Belgium brought 2 imported cases that spread to 231 local infections for a total of 233 Omicron variant cases in the province.

Roi Et, just next door to Kalasin, had spillover with 180 community infections uncovered in the province. Tourist provinces Phuket and Chon Buri are the provinces with the fourth and fifth more Omicron variant infections, with Phuket identifying 175 infections with 17 of them locally transmitted and Chon Buri uncovering 162 infections, 70 of them local transmissions.

Samut Prakan, one of the 6 provinces that make up the Greater Bangkok region, had the sixth most Omicron infections with 18 local transmissions and 88 imported cases for a total of 106 infections.

Dr Supakit said that, while mutations are normal, 2 mutations of Omicron caused sub-variants of concern as B.1.640.1 and B.1.640.2 both had mutated to avoid antibodies, but he reassured that normal disease control measures and treatment were still effective against the 2.

One bit of good news for Omicron though – new studies in Africa found that those infected and recovered from Omicron had boosted antibodies not just against the strain, but other variants as well, regardless of vaccination status. Omicron-fighting antibodies were seen to spike by 14 to 15 times, while antibodies to combat the Delta variant also quadrupled.

SOURCE: MCOT