Thailand's winter Omicron wave has already peaked, says virologist
Thailand’s latest wave of Covid-19 infections has peaked and is now on a downward trend, Chulalongkorn University (CU)’s top virologist said on Thursday.
Dr Yong Poovorawan explained in a Facebook post that the number of Covid patients being hospitalised has dropped significantly in recent days.
The slowdown of infections this winter came sooner than expected, he added.
The latest Covid wave is being driven by the BA.2.75 Omicron subvariant now dominant in Thailand.
Yong cautioned however that the government needed to monitor against two new Omicron subvariants, BQ.1 and BQ.1.1, which are currently spreading fast in the United States and Europe.
He said Covid infections would be at their lowest in February but warned a new wave could emerge in May or June.
The virologist added that over 70% of Thailand’s population have contracted the SARS-CoV-2 virus and most were infected with Omicron. The high ratio of Omicron infection coupled with vaccination has led to hybrid immunity and strong protection against future infection and severe symptoms, he said.
The need for Thais to get booster shots would gradually reduce as most have been infected with BA.5 Omicron subvariant that provides natural immunity that is superior to protection from mRNA vaccines, he added.
Dr Yong heads the Centre of Excellence in Clinical Virology at CU’s Faculty of Medicine.
