235 people in 10 Thai provinces infected with Covid variant first found in India

235 people in 10 of Thailand’s 77 provinces have tested positive for the Covid-19 variant first found in India. Most of the cases are linked to an outbreak at a construction camp in Bangkok’s Laksi district.

Thailand’s Department of Medical Sciences tested samples from 3,964 Covid-19 patients to detect mutated variants of the virus. 235 of the samples were positive for the B.1.617.2 strain which was first found in India. The majority of the samples tested positive for the B.1.1.7 variant which was first detected in the UK and is said to be the cause of the recent wave of infection, starting in Bangkok’s Thong Lor nightlife district.

The B.1.617.2 strain, also called the Delta variant by the World Health Organisation, was first found in Thailand on May 10. A Thai woman and her 4 year old son tested positive for the mutated strain while in quarantine after returning to Thailand from Pakistan.

15 construction workers at a camp in Bangkok’s Laksi district tested positive for the Delta variant on May 15. Department of Medical Sciences director general Supakit Sirilak says most of the cases involving the mutated strain of the virus are linked to the construction camp cluster.

Out of the 235 cases involving the Delta variant, 206 were detected in Bangkok. 17 cases were found in Udon Thani while 2 were in Nonthaburi, 2 in Phitsanulok, 2 in Saraburi, 2 in Nakhon Ratchasima, 1 in Roi Et, 1 in Samut Songkhram, 1 in Udon Ratchathani and 1 in Buriram.

SOURCE: Thai PBS