Delta variant responsible for over 98 per cent of new infections
Over 98 per cent of new Covid-19 infections are of a delta variant, a survey by Department of Medical Science revealed.
“The department has been conducting survey on new Covid-19 infections every week, whereas the latest result from last week (October 16-22) found that 98.6 per cent of new patients have been infected with delta variant,” said Dr Supphakit Siriluck, the department's director-general on Tuesday. “0.8 per cent of new patients have beta variant, while 0.6 per cent were infected with alpha variant.”
“In the four deep south provinces, delta variant is responsible for 96.9 per cent of new infections, followed by beta variant at 2.3 per cent and alpha variant at 0.8 per cent.”
Supphakit also added that Thailand has found 18 patients infected with subvariant of alpha, also known as alpha plus E484K, from sample collection since September 27. “Of the 18 patients, 12 are Cambodian national workers, four Thai citizens in Chanthaburi and Trat, and two inmates in Chiang Mai prison,” he said. “All 18 patients have been cured and allowed to leave hospitals. Officials are performing active case finding in the areas to check if there are more infections with alpha plus subvariant.”
“As for the subvariants of delta, currently there are up to 47 delta plus subvariants found around the world. In Thailand, 19 delta plus subvariants have been found, none of which has shown faster spreading or resistance to vaccine” he said. “The delta plus AY 4.2 that has 10-15 per cent faster spreading rate and is currently under monitoring by the UK government has yet to be found in Thailand.”
“The case of delta plus infection that has been recently reported in Kamphaeng Phet province since September is actually of the AY 1 subvariant and not the AY 4.2 subvariant,” he added. “The AY 1 also shows no evidence of faster spreading or vaccine resistance.”