3 Thais test positive for Omicron upon return from Mecca
THE NATION
Three Thai nationals tested positive for the Omicron variant on Friday after returning home via the Phuket sandbox scheme from their annual “Umrah” pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia.
Dr Muhammad Labaiji, deputy director of Khok Pho Hospital in Pattani who had also joined the trip, said on Sunday that three Omicron infections were confirmed after 137 returnees underwent RT-PCR tests upon returning from Mecca last week.
The three patients have been transferred to Pattani’s Khok Pho Hospital, he said, adding that those not infected have completed their five-day quarantine in Phuket and will spend another 14 days in self-isolation when they return home.
Umrah, a “lesser pilgrimage” compared to Hajj, is not mandatory and usually takes up to 15 days in Mecca – Islam’s holiest city.
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