New strain of Covid-19 from UK found in four Britons in quarantine

By The Nation

 

 

An expert virologist at Chulalongkorn University has said that the mutant coronavirus in the United Kingdom has now been found in Thailand.

 

 

Dr Yong Poovorawan said in a Facebook post on January 3 that the Centre for Specialisation in Clinical Virology at the Faculty of Medicine in Chulalongkorn University had decoded the strain of the virus and found a UK coronavirus mutant, also known as B.1.1.7 mutant.

 

The virus was obtained from a British family of four from Kent, England. They were isolated in an alternative state quarantine hotel under a private hospital care, to ensure the virus does not spread.

 

Genetic decoding shows that this British mutated virus, which is viewed warily all over the world and has led to suspension of flights from the UK, have two genetic transcripts -- mutations at the human cell receptor-binding domain (N501Y), mutation in the spike protein (P681H), spike 69-70 deletion, and other positions.

 

This strain made the transmission easier and spread rapidly in this family, infecting all four people.

 

However, this strain will not aggravate the disease in Thailand and is not related to vaccine efficacy. The four British patients are under close watch in controlled conditions, to prevent the virus from spreading. The patients are still in a negative pressure room to ensure they come out without infection.

 

He added that Thai people should stay assured that the virus has not yet had a chance to spread in the country.

 

Source: https://www.nationthailand.com/news/30400610?utm_source=category&utm_medium=internal_referral

 

-- © Copyright The Nation Thailand 2021-01-03

 

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Negative pressure room.  I thought that a negative pressure room was only needed for those having breathing problems.  However, I just read up and found they are also used to isolate the pathogen and keep it from escaping from the room as well.  Seems that there is more to the story as this is being treated at the top most of precautions by the Thai's which if they are is a good sign they are doing the right thing but seem intensely concerned.

Edited January 3, 20215 yr by ThailandRyan

5 minutes ago, ThailandRyan said:

or is it that this is being treated at the top most of precautions by the Thai

Should really have banned all flights from UK and anyone who's been there in the past 2 weeks, when this was first reported, like other sensible countries have done. By allowing flights from UK nearly every day, this was certainly not a surprise.

It is also a concern as they could have shed the virus while on the flight, while in Suvarnabhumi, and in transit to the ASQ.  Be interesting to see how long since they arrived in the country.  I am sure they are also actively checking out anyone who had contact with them as well.  A mad scramble I am sure.  Yes I agree, once this strain hit the news all flights should have been canceled, but the Thai's are so concerned with getting their own people home and a few tourists/long term stay families as well.

9 minutes ago, tomazbodner said:

Should really have banned all flights from UK and anyone who's been there in the past 2 weeks, when this was first reported, like other sensible countries have done. By allowing flights from UK nearly every day, this was certainly not a surprise.

The UK should be isolated, this new strain that is so abundant over there should be stopped there. For once its a great thing that its an island. Easier to make sure that those who  are from the UK get checked. 

 

But I don't think its a huge problem for Thailand because of the mandatory state quarantine. That should be good enough to stop it.

 

 

It appears they are sequencing all positive tests found in quarantine. They were also quick to identify the more infectious G416 strain from Myanmar, India, and the West. 

 

Unfortunately B.1.1.7 is more infectious than the more infectious G614 strain.

 

 

Edited January 3, 20215 yr by rabas

3 minutes ago, robblok said:

The UK should be isolated, this new strain that is so abundant over there should be stopped there. For once its a great thing that its an island. Easier to make sure that those who  are from the UK get checked. 

 

But I don't think its a huge problem for Thailand because of the mandatory state quarantine. That should be good enough to stop it.

 

 

It all looks like 2021 isn't going to be any better than 2020...

 

They need to immediately ban all flights from the UK and US.

We do not want that filthy mutated virus that is reported to be more contagious in Thailand.

Stay away from here!

Edited January 3, 20215 yr by bkk6060

Troll post of no use to anyone removed

30 minutes ago, bkk6060 said:

They need to immediately ban all flights from the UK and US.

We do not want that filthy mutated virus that is reported to be more contagious in Thailand.

Stay away from here!

 

If only you and the Thais had thought like that when China first started it flying around the world in the first place.

Why was the virus not found on the pre-flight PCR test?

52 minutes ago, robblok said:

The UK should be isolated, this new strain that is so abundant over there should be stopped there. For once its a great thing that its an island. Easier to make sure that those who  are from the UK get checked. 

 

But I don't think its a huge problem for Thailand because of the mandatory state quarantine. That should be good enough to stop it.

 

 

As usual too little too late over here

It's not from the UK it's been around for months. 

Also it's from China, it's the CHINESE VIRUS

Let's not get away from this

They don't want to let the British mutant virus out into population,

its spreading like wildfire in UK, with 50,000 + cases per day.much

easier to be infected. what about the others on the flight they took ?

regards worgeordie

I thought this "Mutant UK strain" was first discovered in South Africa ???

 

Let us not forget where this whole Pandemic started, CHINA not the UK or anywhere else. The whole world is suffering because of CHINA

3 minutes ago, worgeordie said:

They don't want to let the British mutant virus out into population,

its spreading like wildfire in UK, with 50,000 + cases per day.much

easier to be infected. what about the others on the flight they took ?

regards worgeordie

Pure scaremongering

It's not a UK Strain, it's a strain that was first identified in The UK; not quite the same thing.

 

However, as usual, The UK Is getting more than its fair share of hate posts from some TV members.

 

It might be worth remembering where the virus was manufactured, and also that Thais on repatriation flights are not required to have a Covid PCR Check before flying.

 

33 minutes ago, stubuzz said:

Why was the virus not found on the pre-flight PCR test?

A test taken 4 days before the flight will only pick up an infection contracted 8 days or more before the flight. If you think that an infection contracted say 14 days before the flight is likely to have passed by the time of the flight anyway, the PCR testing doesn't cut the risk nearly as much as people think. It's definitely not a guarantee that the person next to you is not infected. On my flight none of the falangs bothered with masks, so were probably more of a risk to others than the Thais.

7 minutes ago, Moti24 said:

It's not a UK Strain, it's a strain that was first identified in The UK; not quite the same thing.

 

However, as usual, The UK Is getting more than its fair share of hate posts from some TV members.

 

It might be worth remembering where the virus was manufactured, and also that Thais on repatriation flights are not required to have a Covid PCR Check before flying.

 

 

It might have originated in US and not UK.

 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/01/now-coronavirus-variant-us-since-october

25 minutes ago, Moti24 said:

It's not a UK Strain, it's a strain that was first identified in The UK; not quite the same thing.

 

However, as usual, The UK Is getting more than its fair share of hate posts from some TV members.

 

It might be worth remembering where the virus was manufactured, and also that Thais on repatriation flights are not required to have a Covid PCR Check before flying.

 

The UK was the first to publicly acknowledge it existed. Now other countries have followed suit. But let the bashers have their moment of fame. 

It is widely known (unfortunately not by some TVF members who like to spout rubbish) that the variant has been found in many, many countries, and found in people with no recent travel history or no travel at all in their lives, so maybe it's a natural mutation/progression of the virus. Ever thought of that have you ??

Viruses mutate, its expected. Even the humble flu does so every year. Bacteria also mutate, which is why antibiotics are slowly becoming less effective, and more expensive naturally. If the media would read a medical text they perhaps wouldn't be so shocked or surprised.

 

Of course the new claim is that even though flu vaccines against the wrong strain do nothing whatsoever, the new (largely untested) covid vaccines are different, they are good for all strains, so keep the orders coming.

3 hours ago, rooster59 said:

British mutated virus

So it's okay to call this the "British mutated virus", but it wasn't okay to call COVID-19 the "Chinese virus" when first discovered in China?

Edited January 3, 20215 yr by ftpjtm

1 hour ago, Golden Triangle said:

It is widely known (unfortunately not by some TVF members who like to spout rubbish) that the variant has been found in many, many countries, and found in people with no recent travel history or no travel at all in their lives, so maybe it's a natural mutation/progression of the virus. Ever thought of that have you ??

Quite. The day the variant was first reported I saw an interview with one of the top German guys. He said the reason it was detected in the UK first was that the UK had better genome monitoring facilities than other European countries. He was fairly sure it would be present in Germany and other places without them being aware.

As you say, and most of the experts that I saw are of the opinion it is a natural mutation. The common cold is a coronavirus that has mutated into a high transmission virus with a very low mortality rate.

"Led to suspension of flights from the UK", have they suspended flights or is he talking about the knee jerk reaction some countries took in December.

Just now, BLACKJACK2 said:

"Led to suspension of flights from the UK", have they suspended flights or is he talking about the knee jerk reaction some countries took in December.

The latter part of your comment I believe ????

23 minutes ago, ftpjtm said:

So it's okay to call this the "British mutated virus", but it wasn't okay to call COVID-19 the "Chinese virus" when first discovered in China?

So let's call it BMV. Let's find the Mutant Teenage Ninja Turtles next.  

2 hours ago, Grogu said:

Pure scaremongering

I think those that have died so far....would not have agreed with you,

i suppose your ego won't let you wear a mask....because you don't

believe in all the scaremongering ???? and your a macho man????.....

regards worgeordie????

 

3 minutes ago, worgeordie said:

I think those that have died so far....would not have agreed with you,

i suppose your ego won't let you wear a mask....because you don't

believe in all the scaremongering ???? and your a macho man????.....

regards worgeordie????

 

Is the severity of the new strain any worse than the original?  Or is still only those with pre-existing conditions that are adversely affected?

In Britain the virus is thought to be spreading so quickly via young children, and it's not a coincidence that this was found in a family. Thailand can only hope that they were not infectious enough on the flight to spread it to others or that training has been rigorous at ASQ hotel up until they were transferred to hospital