Thailand’s infection rate accelerating as BA.2 overtakes BA.1: virologist Yong
A top virologist says Omicron subvariant BA.2 is overtaking BA.1 in Thailand and driving a rapid rise in new Covid-19 infections.
Dr Yong Poovorawan, head of Chulalongkorn University’s Centre of Excellence in Clinical Virology, said on his Facebook page that it was not surprising to see the number of new infections increasing very fast now.
Thailand logged a record high of 24,932 new Covid-19 cases on Friday, rising by almost 1,500 cases from Thursday (23,557), according to health officials. The official figures are thought to be just a fraction of the true number of daily infections.
Yong said Omicron had replaced Delta as Thailand’s dominant variant because it was more infectious.
Meanwhile, the BA.1 subvariant of Omicron was now being replaced by BA.2, which spreads 1.4 times faster than BA.1 and is driving up the infection rate, he added.
Yong expects BA.2 to take over as the dominant subvariant in Thailand soon. However symptoms from both the Omicron subvariants are mild when compared with Delta, said Yong, citing studies from South Africa.
The doctor added that research in Denmark found that the people who catch BA.1 can be reinfected with BA.2, but this was a rare occurrence.
