Rapidly-spreading UK variant proving more deadly in Thailand

Thailand’s Covid-19 death toll has risen dramatically in the third wave of the virus, with an additional 15 deaths reported today. The surging death toll is being attributed to the so-called UK variant, or B.1.1.7, which health experts say is far more contagious and is now proving far more deadly too.

Thailand’s death toll to date now stands at 203. Prior to the recent Songkran holiday, during which the government allowed inter-provincial travel to go ahead, Thailand had recorded just 79 deaths since the start of the pandemic in early 2020. Since the beginning of April, 109 people have died from the B.1.1.7 variant of Covid-19.

Thailand has recorded a total of 65,570 infections since the start of the pandemic. According to a report in the Chiang Rai Times, 35,394 of those have recovered and 27,988 are receiving hospital treatment, with 786 patients seriously ill. 230 are on ventilators. Taweesilp Visanuyothin from the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration says the UK variant brings with it far more severe symptoms and a higher and faster death rate.

Yesterday, Thailand reported 1,871 new infections, of which 1,864 were cases of community transmission. 1,830 were detected through hospital testing, while 34 were found through mass testing. Only 2% of people checked through proactive testing were found to be infected.

In the last 24 hours, cases around the world have also skyrocketed, with 885,604 new infections creating a global total of over 150 million. India is still reporting the highest number of new cases, with 379,459 in the last 24 hours. Total infections in the South Asian nation now standing at more than 18.75 million, with 208,313 deaths.

SOURCE: Chiang Rai Times