Delta still the dominant Covid-19 strain in Thailand, survey shows
The Omicron variant of Covid-19 accounts for only 9 per cent of new cases in Thailand since November 1, though Delta is still the dominant strain, a Department of Medical Science survey revealed.
“A survey conducted nationwide since Thailand opened its doors to foreign tourists on November 1 until December 28 shows that 90.94 per cent of new Covid-19 patients had been infected by the Delta variant,” Dr Suphakit Sirilak, the department’s director-general, said on Thursday.
“Of the new patients, only 8.91 per cent have the Omicron variant, which was only discovered in Thailand on November 30,” he said. “Meanwhile, 0.13 per cent of new patients have the Alpha variant, while 0.02 per cent have the Beta variant.”
The department believes that the highly transmissible Omicron variant will push the number of daily infections to about 13,000 patients in the best-case scenario and 30,000 in a worst-case scenario.
As many as 934 Omicron infections were detected in Thailand as of Thursday, 577 of whom were arrivals from abroad and 357 were local transmissions.
More than 60 per cent of the cases have been found in Bangkok, Kalasin in the Northeast and Phuket in the South.