Three patients travelling from Thailand test positive in Hong Kong for XBB variant of Covid-19

Virologist Dr Anan Jongkaewwattana posted on his Facebook on Thursday the report from Hong Kong’s health department.

The report said that 29 imported XBB cases were detected in Hong Kong on Wednesday — 24 tested positive on arrival while five cases were detected on the second day. Of the 29 cases, three patients had travelled from Thailand, 13 patients had travelled from Singapore, five from India, two from both the UK and Indonesia, while one case each was from the US, Germany, the United Arab Emirates, and Czech Republic.

Anan said that it was likely the XBB virus had been mixed up with Covid-19 patients in Thailand but was not detected yet.

However, he said that it was also possible that these three patients had travelled from other places and had transited Thailand before heading to Hong Kong.

Thailand’s Disease Control Department (DDC) had confirmed on Wednesday that the BQ.1.1 and XBB variants have not spread in Thailand, and most new cases were infected with the Omicron variant.