Thailand Confirms 205 Omicron Cases

[Jonathan Fairfield]

 

A total of 205 COVID-19 patients have been identified as having contracted the Omicron coronavirus variant, including a local cluster of 25 cases.

 

Thailand’s health authorities confirmed that all of the cases have been linked to international travelers.

 

The Department of Medical Sciences (DMS) reported the 205 Omicron cases, 180 of which were detected among international travelers, while the remaining 25 were found in the local population.

 

DMS Director-General Dr. Supakit Sirilak said the Delta variant remains the dominant strain in Thailand, with genetic sequencing of samples from international arrivals and the local population from the past week showing 732 Delta cases and 142 Omicron cases. Alpha and Beta cases were no longer detected.

 

The director-general noted that the department is still capable of identifying new variants, including Omicron-like strains. He also cited a study from Hong Kong University that suggested the Omicron variant can spread 70 times faster than the Delta variant, but is less damaging to the lungs.

 

Data from the United Kingdom indicated that the transmission rate of Omicron between family members is also higher than that of Delta.

 

Citing the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Supakit added that currently available vaccines provide less protection against Omicron, but can still prevent serious symptoms, while several studies suggest that booster doses can help strengthen the immune system regardless of the vaccine brand.

 

-- © Copyright NNT 2021-12-26

 

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[ThailandRyan]

Maybe when they test the first sample provided they check it for the genomic qualities of Omicron etc...and return it within 24 hrs.  They are able to do this elsewhere, why not here.

[mommysboy]

Pandoras box!

[Trip Hop]

47 minutes ago, ThailandRyan said:

Maybe when they test the first sample provided they check it for the genomic qualities of Omicron etc...and return it within 24 hrs.  They are able to do this elsewhere, why not here.

My exact thoughts exactly when reading the thread from a couple of days ago about the alleged cases that entered at the beginning of December but now only found to be Omicron? For some reason Thailand likes to portray that Omicron is a special strain of the virus that is hard to detect whilst other countries have no problems at all?

[Kadilo]

 

“Thailand’s health authorities confirmed that all of the cases have been linked to international travelers.”

 

Now that has been confirmed I  would be surprised if they continue to allow another 90,000 to arrive and return from Omicron hotspots under the T&G  grandfathering loophole, if they are genuinely concerned about the spread. 

Edited December 26, 2021 by Kadilo

[Bkk Brian]

3 minutes ago, Kadilo said:

 

“Thailand’s health authorities confirmed that all of the cases have been linked to international travelers.”

 

Now that has been confirmed I  would be surprised if they continue to allow another 90,000 to arrive and return from Omicron hotspots under the T&G  grandfathering loophole, if they are genuinely concerned about the spread. 

How long are you going to hold onto this 90,000 due to arrive under what 'you' call a loophole that was reported 5 days ago? Since then thousands of those arrivals have already entered, infact on Christmas Eve over 11.5k arrived. Better get your numbers up to date.

 

 

[lujanit]

3 hours ago, Jonathan Fairfield said:

A total of 205 COVID-19 patients have been identified as having contracted the Omicron coronavirus variant, including a local cluster of 25 cases.

They are not looking hard enough.  Numbers for this highly transmissible should be much higher.

[IamNoone88]

This whole Covid virus pandemic which has seeded the world and originated in China should be investigated as a deliberate act against humanity? Why hasn't that happened? Perhaps because it supports the Authoritarian regimes to keep the populations in check and in fear. Anyway, the Omicron genie is out of the bottle and Covid will just keep re-cycling, creating fear and divide between those who comply and those who do not .... and nearly all countries will create even more debt that will take us nicely from a pandemic into another financial crisis.

[wensiensheng]

1 hour ago, Kadilo said:

 

“Thailand’s health authorities confirmed that all of the cases have been linked to international travelers.”

 

Now that has been confirmed I  would be surprised if they continue to allow another 90,000 to arrive and return from Omicron hotspots under the T&G  grandfathering loophole, if they are genuinely concerned about the spread. 

That particular sentence to me just seems like a sop to the local population that there is no local transmission and that it’s all due to international arrivals. Maybe that was true at one point, very unlikely to be so now.
 

If Singapore has over 490 cases, it beggars belief that Thailand has only 200.

[RBOP]

Old news. That was 2 days ago. Now (26 Dec) well over 400. 

[flyfrog]

3 hours ago, ThailandRyan said:

Maybe when they test the first sample provided they check it for the genomic qualities of Omicron etc...and return it within 24 hrs.  They are able to do this elsewhere, why not here.

Because they not check????

[flyfrog]

Where they get all thise Omicron cases from? If you're C19 positive and ask which variant you have they cannot answer so how they count this??

[Karma80]

53 minutes ago, lujanit said:

They are not looking hard enough.  Numbers for this highly transmissible should be much higher.

Thailand has never wanted to look hard for cases and this will be no different.

Why would you get voluntarily tested for covid here and risk an expensive quarantine bill or dire Social Security facility?

We are long past covid zero policies and now it's about face-saving how safe Thailand is.

Good luck with that. France has more percentage vaccinated and now at 100,000 cases.

 

 

[Almer]

Don’t worry Anutin says Omicron no match for Thailand

[smedly]

1 hour ago, lujanit said:

They are not looking hard enough.  Numbers for this highly transmissible should be much higher.

I agree, based on data from other countries you cannpt have just 200 odd cases of this variant but they are not going to find  the true numbers because they only perform very selective testing, as usual the public will have to guess the spread based on something other than Thailands testing or rather lack of, we will just have to assume that it is spreading fast silent and unobserved, it would be interesting to know how many people are coming down with what appears to be a bad cold = we are not going to find that out from government testing,

[smedly]

24 minutes ago, wensiensheng said:

That particular sentence to me just seems like a sop to the local population that there is no local transmission and that it’s all due to international arrivals. Maybe that was true at one point, very unlikely to be so now.

agree, every covid case detected around the world over the last 2 years has always been due to an international arrival except for where is started - the country of origin CHINA

[kiteman9]

All this panic, worry, paranoia over OMI-CON. How many deaths in Thailand so far from OMI-CON out of a 70 million population?

[ThailandRyan]

2 hours ago, Kadilo said:

 

“Thailand’s health authorities confirmed that all of the cases have been linked to international travelers.”

 

Now that has been confirmed I  would be surprised if they continue to allow another 90,000 to arrive and return from Omicron hotspots under the T&G  grandfathering loophole, if they are genuinely concerned about the spread. 

Better read the Article in the BP sir, if they did away with those already processed, regardless that I am one, then that would pretty badly be looked upon by those towards the Thai government in light of what other countries are starting to do after Covid has already started its run.  Look at the US who is lifting the ban on the SA travelers, and then look at the scientific community starting to espouse a reduction from 10 day quarantines to be half of that.  The speed at which someone is infected is at 3 days as a minimum and outwards to 9 days where it was 7 to 14 days for prior variants.

 

Cutting ones nose of to spite it's face as a lockdown and a banning of those already approved would decimate the economy further and you Sir are one who has always beat the drum for opening up and getting the people back to work.  I have always wanted people to do things safely and protect themselves, not locking down the country as you are now espousing.

 

Edited December 26, 2021 by ThailandRyan

[RichardColeman]

The more they hold it back, the worse it will be later. Thailand by panicking about this variant and hunting the cases like armed prison guard with scent dogs will once again get out of sync with other countries and get on other countries red lists just as Thailand reduces its own red list. 

[vandeventer]

2 hours ago, Bkk Brian said:

How long are you going to hold onto this 90,000 due to arrive under what 'you' call a loophole that was reported 5 days ago? Since then thousands of those arrivals have already entered, infact on Christmas Eve over 11.5k arrived. Better get your numbers up to date.

 

 

Pop quiz, what's more dangerous catching Omicron or catching the flu??? Now that's a hard one.

Edited December 26, 2021 by vandeventer

[candide]

47 minutes ago, flyfrog said:

Where they get all thise Omicron cases from? If you're C19 positive and ask which variant you have they cannot answer so how they count this??

I don't know how it is in Thailand, but in other countries they are able to identify the Delta variant. So in most countries, the number of Omicron cases is assessed by the number of non-Delta cases.

[Bkk Brian]

12 minutes ago, RichardColeman said:

The more they hold it back, the worse it will be later. Thailand by panicking about this variant and hunting the cases like armed prison guard with scent dogs will once again get out of sync with other countries and get on other countries red lists just as Thailand reduces its own red list. 

Couldn't agree more, as even WHO said, there is no benefit in closing borders as its probably in most countries already. The contact tracing will soon be overwhelmed anyway so thats not a big problem as I see it. The problem I can foresee is what they propose to do with all the infected people who have mild symptoms and still forcibly quarantine them?

[RichardColeman]

1 minute ago, Bkk Brian said:

The contact tracing will soon be overwhelmed anyway so thats not a big problem as I see it. The problem I can foresee is what they propose to do with all the infected people who have mild symptoms and still forcibly quarantine them?

Agree, they had better change their rules quickly as if they hit the same numbers of 120,000 a day as the UK then they will run out of room exceptionally quickly. That said 120k is probably 2-3 times more than they actually test a day, and they'd have to test probably 10 times their normal daily amount of testing to find them !

[thaiman]

14 minutes ago, vandeventer said:

Pop quiz, what's more dangerous catching Omicron or catching the flu??? Now that's a hard one.

Omicron, of course.  It can land you 14 days in quarantine!

[PEE TEE]

Close all the borders and lock down for a month the ones that have arrived test and quarantine. I for one do not want to catch a cold  

[DjSilver]

For everyone to know,  if I get sick with a cold or so, I will not under any circumstances go and test myself in Thailand. Better just to stay home and watch Netflix ????

 

Byt the way, my throat hurts and have been hurting since 2 days ago. But otherwise I feel great, fit for fight

 

And here is a link to a study that Omicron ain't that bad.

 

https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/hospital-stay-risk-omicron-is-40-45-lower-than-delta-uk-study-2021-12-22/

 

[ThailandRyan]

2 minutes ago, Bkk Brian said:

Couldn't agree more, as even WHO said, there is no benefit in closing borders as its probably in most countries already. The contact tracing will soon be overwhelmed anyway so thats not a big problem as I see it. The problem I can foresee is what they propose to do with all the infected people who have mild symptoms and still forcibly quarantine them?

I for one believe if Omicron causes mild infections as they are finding, and as my Daughter the nurse Practitioner in the US is seeing, such as an upper respiratory infection, cold symptoms, head colds, the flu, or any other number of viruses, then this Covid pandemic has run its course and it is time to move back to life.  Of course with certain safety protocols in place which I can not even began to name, except maybe wearing a mask while in public.  However those protocols, even mask wearing will not be adhered to by everyone.  I for one will continue to wear a mask, and not just because of viruses, but because I wore one when I went out and about before covid because of the PM 2.5 air quality. 

[smedly]

4 minutes ago, Bkk Brian said:

The problem I can foresee is what they propose to do with all the infected people who have mild symptoms and still forcibly quarantine them?

impossible, so Thailands approach will be the don't test and hope for the best - an approach that might actually work this time  considering emerging data from other countries, the only possible issue I can see is how many of those vaccinated involve the Chinese vaccines - that could throw a huge spanner in the works and see hospital admissions rise on a scale not seen yet

[aussiexpat]

So what, Queensland Australia reported 1500 covid cases in last 2 days, over 1000 of the omicron

 

No-one died, no-one in ICU, only 6 in hospital with mild symptoms...this is April Fools groundhog day

[Rimmer]

Some conspiracy troll posts have been removed also replies