Thailand’s first Covid Deltacron-infected patient has ‘recovered fully’
Thailand's first patient infected with the XBC Deltacron Covid-19 virus has fully recovered, the Department of Medical Sciences said on Wednesday.
The department director-general, Supakit Sirilak, revealed that the first case of a patient infected with a hybrid of the Delta and Omicron BA.2 variants was detected in a sample collected in October.
He added that the patient had not travelled abroad.
"As of November 20, up to 153 XBC cases from many countries were reported on GISAID [Global Initiative on Sharing Avian Influenza Data],” he said, "Even though XBC has not shown signs of causing severe symptoms, the virus could spread quickly,” he cautioned.
He said Omicron and its subvariants are still the dominant strain due to their ability to spread quickly.
Citing results of the single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP/deletion) tests on 299 people between November 19 and 25, he said cases of Omicron BA.2.75 infections had increased to 63.3% from 42.9% last week. He added that most cases were local infections.
"Whole genome sequencing has shown that more than 468 Thai people were infected with Omicron BA.2.75 and its related subvariants, such as BA.2.75.2, BA.2.75.5.1 (BN.1) and BA.2.75.1.2 (BL.2)," he said.
He added that the department had found four patients infected with the Omicron XBB subvariant (a hybrid between BA.2.10.1 and BA.2.75 subvariants) and seven patients were infected with the BQ.1 subvariant.
The department would continue to monitor the mutations of the Covid-19 virus and assess the efficiency of public health measures and adjust treatment methods, he said.
"During this time, Covid-19 prevention measures, such as the wearing of face mask and washing of hands, are still necessary to contain the spread of the virus," he said.
He emphasised that receiving a Covid-19 vaccine could reduce the severity of the virus, especially among the “608” group (those 60 years old and above, and those with eight underlying health conditions).
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