Thailand has 5 BA.2.75 antibody-resistant Covid-19 sub-variant
Health authorities are now keeping a close eye on the development of five confirmed infections of the Covid-19 sub-variant BA.2.75, known to be antibody resistant. The director-general of the Department of Medical Sciences outlined all the cases and warned that the sub-variant could spread quickly if not properly monitored.
“Officials are monitoring the development of the sub-variant. If the strain is highly transmissible, its infection percentage will gradually rise. Otherwise, cases will go up only for a certain period.”
The BA.2.75 sub-variant has about 90 mutations from the early strain at the beginning of Covid originating from Wuhan, making it able to avoid antibodies. This variant is still very rare in Thailand and will hopefully not become predominant.
Currently, 91.5% of a sample of 382 infections in Bangkok oh, and 80% of those in other provinces were of the BA.4/BA.5 sub-variant of the Omicron variant, a total of 322 cases. There were also 58 people infected with BA.2 and one person with BA.1. The remaining patient was found to have the BA.2.75 sub-variant.
Details of the five confirmed cases confirmed within the kingdom so far:
- A 53 year old Thai man in Trang was the first known case of B.2.75 in the country.
- After having excessive phlegm and a persistent cough, a 62 year old man was tested and confirmed that he had the sub-variant. It is suspected he got Covid from his daughter in Bangkok.
- An outbreak at a high school netted one 18 year old student discovered to be carrying a BA2.75 infection, though other students were not.
- In Songkhla province, a man refused to be vaccinated against the coronavirus because he believed that his allergies would cause a reaction. This is not true, the director-general of the DMS explained. As a result, the 62 year old man ended up in the intensive care unit on a ventilator with a severe Covid infection.
- The final case of the BA.2.57 sub-variant was uncovered in an old woman confined to her bed.
SOURCE: Bangkok Post
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