Omicron surging in Asia as wave subsides elsewhere
The highly transmissible Omicron variant is hammering up to 20 countries in Asia, accounting for most Covid-19 cases and deaths, a Chulalongkorn University lecturer wrote in a Facebook post on Monday.
Thira Woratanarat, Chulalongkorn’s Faculty of Medicine lecturer, said 90.11 per cent of new Covid-19 cases and 80.64 per cent of deaths in Asia, Europe and North America could be blamed on Omicron.
“In Europe alone, Omicron accounted for 52.43 per cent of new cases and 29.43 per cent of deaths,” he said.
He added that though the Omicron outbreak was on a downward trajectory in many places, it was moving upwards in South America, Oceania and Asia.
“Up to 20 Asian countries, including Thailand, are in an upward trajectory based on weekly Covid-19 cases and deaths,” he said.
Thira added that it was not easy for Thailand to ease prevention measures like other countries due to differences in vaccine efficacy, the number of people jabbed and infrastructure.
He added that the government should make decisions on curbing the spread of the disease carefully based on factual evidence to prevent losses.
“Claiming that Omicron is less severe than the Delta variant may not be enough to make a decision,” he said.
He also said the government should realise that there is a possibility that Covid-19 will be prolonged and consider the effect it is having on people, the public healthcare sector and the state of the nation.
