Thai stats indicate BA.4, BA.5 likely more serious than other COVID sub-variants

[snoop1130]

 

Initial findings of research, conducted by the Thai Department of Medical Sciences, show that the COVID-19 Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 sub-variants are likely to be more serious than the BA.2 sub-variant, says the department’s director-general, Dr.Supakit Sirilak.

 

He said today (Monday) that the findings are based on random checks of 570 COVID-19 cases, conducted between July 2ndand 8th, by the Department of Medical Sciences. Among them,280 were found to be infected with BA.4 and BA.5 sub-variants, 283 with the BA.2 sub-variant, 5 cases of BA.1 sub-variant and 2 cases which could not be clearly identified.

 

Dr. Supakit said that 71.95% of the BA.4 and BA.5 cases and 28.05% of the BA.2 cases were found not to be serious but,out of 13 severe cases, including lung infections and those who need ventilators or died, 76.92% of them were BA.4 and BA.5 cases, compared to 23.08% of BA.2 cases.

 

From these initial findings, he said that BA.4 and BA.5 sub-variants are more likely to cause more serious symptoms than the BA.2 sub-variant, adding that the incidents of BA.4 and BA.5 sub-variant infections are tending to increase in Thailand, with more serious cases in Bangkok than for BA.1 and BA.2 sub-variants.

 

He admitted, however, that the number of cases examined by the Department of Medical Sciences is not enough to determine with certainty that BA.4 and BA.5 are more serious.

 

Full Story: https://www.thaipbsworld.com/thai-stats-indicate-ba-4-ba-5-likely-more-serious-than-other-covid-sub-variants/

 

-- © Copyright Thai PBS 2022-07-11

 

- Cigna offers a range of visa-compliant plans that meet the minimum requirement of medical treatment, including COVID-19, up to THB 3m. For more information on all expat health insurance plans click here.

 

Monthly car subscription with first-class insurance, 24x7 assistance and more in one price - click here to find out more!

[smedly]

6 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Initial findings of research, conducted by the Thai Department of Medical Sciences, show that the COVID-19 Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 sub-variants are likely to be more serious than the BA.2 sub-variant, says the department’s director-general, Dr.Supakit Sirilak.

they've been watching BBC again 

[RichardColeman]

Look , I am all for taking Covid seriously and taking a 'few' precautions BUT  this thing is being treated like one of us will end up like Mr Price. 

 

Note to self : The human race gained population and still is gaining population during covid !

[IamNoone88]

Another diluted number, made to look severe. ....... "13 cases out which 76.92%"..... or 10 in numbers. In sampling, that doesn't even count. Sooo, 10 out of how many thousands that were infected over a period of x days.

[Purdey]

As this is a doctor, not a politician, I take it he might be professional. It’s a toss up with a small survey if he has a point. At least polite enough to share results.

As I just had a member of staff informed that she caught Covid again while on holiday in S. Korea I guess it isn’t going away. As long as it is not severe, people can work from home so business doesn’t suffer. However, shutting down a company or business again will become an economic not a political problem that can only be solved with a vaccine that adapts the body to variants.

[phukettrader]

10 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

He admitted, however, that the number of cases examined by the Department of Medical Sciences is not enough to determine with certainty that BA.4 and BA.5 are more serious

So why not just shup up then instead of this constant "you must live in fear" b*****ks?

[ikke1959]

10 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

he said that BA.4 and BA.5 sub-variants are more likely to cause more serious symptoms than the BA.2 sub-variant, adding that the incidents of BA.4 and BA.5 sub-variant infections are tending to increase in Thailand, with more serious cases in Bangkok than for BA.1 and BA.2 sub-variants.

 

He admitted, however, that the number of cases examined by the Department of Medical Sciences is not enough to determine with certainty that BA.4 and BA.5 are more serious.

The question now is .... is it more serious or not more serious??? To be or not to be ... that is the question...Or is it just talk to impress people with nothing?

[pokerface1]

Scarey Pic so it must be worse. Isn't that how you scare people into following the rules. 

[webcrawler00]

Exactly as others have commented, the 13 severe cases which is then analyzed into two groups is such a small (tiny!!!) sample that you wonder why would any news site even care to report such unreliable research analytics. Don’t they know better or published just to get clicks with a scary heading!  C’mon please! Let’s see some responsible journalism here. 

[tandor]

30 minutes ago, Purdey said:

As this is a doctor, not a politician, I take it he might be professional. It’s a toss up with a small survey if he has a point. At least polite enough to share results.

As I just had a member of staff informed that she caught Covid again while on holiday in S. Korea I guess it isn’t going away. As long as it is not severe, people can work from home so business doesn’t suffer. However, shutting down a company or business again will become an economic not a political problem that can only be solved with a vaccine that adapts the body to variants.

...it is expected to be with us for decades, accounting already for 30% of hospital admissions. Sars Covi-2 has muscled its way into the line of other upper respiratory tract diseases and is here to stay. The more of us that get vaccinated then the safer we all will be and the weaker the virus will become over time. As long as our everyday life is disrupted, then we remain in a Pandemic. Assess your symptoms and self-isolate, think of others and wear your mask. If you are elderly have your GP prescribe Anti Viral medications. (My Reference by the way is leading US Pediatrician Dr. Paul Offit of This Week in Virology, (TWiV), YouTube Podcast, Episode 917 at 24 minutes). The sub-variant BA. 5 is expected to become the dominant sub-variant and initial testing has shown the bodies' antibodies have a weaker response to this sub-variant. A full study is presently underway regarding BA.5 with results in a few weeks. I hope this information is of assistance.

[ifmu]

All of the stats/numbers  you guys post and the governments numbers are not valid 

 

testing is almost non existent     

 

time will tell     

[KCPhuket]

Likely?

More BKK Speculation

[sawadee1947]

4 hours ago, smedly said:

they've been watching BBC again 

Watching YES 

Understanding NO.    ????

 

 

[sawadee1947]

1 hour ago, Purdey said:

people can work from home so business doesn’t suffer

Well, Look what happens with airline and airport staff......????

Not so easy to Work from Home I reckon ????

[JayBird]

It's a vaccine booster shot.  You're not being asked to climb Everest naked or eat a kilo of dung everyday.  Y'all need to stop being such snowflakes and living in fear of a little needle.

[huangnon]

11 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

He admitted, however, that the number of cases examined by the Department of Medical Sciences is not enough to determine with certainty that BA.4 and BA.5 are more serious.

Bit of a non-story, then eh?

 

But let's put a scary "virus" picture at the top of it. ????

[ardsong]

4 hours ago, smedly said:

they've been watching BBC again 

nothing wrong is learning from other reliable sources.

that is how aviation got the incidents down.

[vivananahuahin]

Centaurus and then Ninja this is the new world.

[internationalism]

with that small statistical sample there might be an error. Identifying variants is an additional procedure, adding costs to the routine PCR which is still over 1k baht per test.

 

Those cases with BA1 and BA2 might already had them before (or were in close contact, but not became ill), around January/February, now for them is a second contact with the same variant so they have already some immunity and less severe illness.

In europe, when those variants appeared already in April, in Portugal, they went on in removing all or the majority of restrictions. That some 3 months experience in a population of 700mln doesn't show more serious hospitalisations. There is sharp rise in infections but mild ones  

[4MyEgo]

Yes BA.4 & BA.5 are more infectious, however the good Doctor didn't provide the statistics that we all want to know, i.e. the age groups of those who ended up passing.

 

Did they have existing conditions, were they vaccinated etc etc, you know the other factors that really make up the statistics that we all want to know.

 

Leaving this criteria out is just more scaremongering IMO, maybe that's what they want, to keep us on our tippy toe's, that said, I', over it, had 3 Pfizer jabs and caught Omicron, so that is a natural infection, should be enough to keep me going till the next nasty comes along in 100 years, so I've moved on, no mask, nutter, well and truly over it, and booked my overseas holiday, life is back to normal for me.

 

All of the above said, I make sure I wear clean underwear every day, as my mother used to say, you never know when that bus will come out of know where, so best be prepared. 

[Lacrimas]

The problem is not dying but getting one of those nasty side diseases that come after healing from covid like lung or heart infection or long covid. If you die at least you don't have to live miserably for how long you don't know.

[bestie]

Hard to say and to accept it, but there isn't any way that life is coming back to "normal". Like we know it before Covid.

It's here to stay it and so are the restrictions, rising prices, vaccine or mask mandates, tests and so on. Even if you trying to ignoring it, you can't really, because it effects all of us, friends or family. And this isn't normal.  

[arithai12]

To give fractions with 4 digits on a sample of 13 serious cases shows that Dr. Supakit doesn't have a clue about statistics.

He "admitted... number of cases... not enough" so he should simply shut up.

[Dukeleto]

Oh FO already! Your investigation has more holes then Swiss cheese and is purely about keeping covid relevant. No information regarding the demographic of those that did pass away. All of the most relevant information is missing and as such anything like this should be binned prior to publication. It seems ASEAN is  simply helping shovel the manure around for them. And placing the article along side the one encouraging people to get their booster shots before travelling…well need I say more. I think you can do better!

 

 

[phukettrader]

2 hours ago, ardsong said:

nothing wrong is learning from other reliable sources

"reliable"? BBC? Are you having a laugh?

[mommysboy]

In the UK, the subvariants are regarded as mild as the parent strain. In fact thus far ICU admissions appear not to have risen in line. I'd rather go with that.

 

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/covid-19-variants-identified-in-the-uk-latest-updates

[phukettrader]

56 minutes ago, bestie said:

Hard to say and to accept it, but there isn't any way that life is coming back to "normal". Like we know it before Covid.

It's here to stay it and so are the restrictions, rising prices, vaccine or mask mandates, tests and so on. Even if you trying to ignoring it, you can't really, because it effects all of us, friends or family. And this isn't normal.  

Maybe if more people DID ignore the constant propaganga and fear-mongering, things would get back to the "old" normal whereby if we got the flu, we would spend a few days in bed then get on with life.

[John Drake]

3 hours ago, tandor said:

...it is expected to be with us for decades, accounting already for 30% of hospital admissions. Sars Covi-2 has muscled its way into the line of other upper respiratory tract diseases and is here to stay. The more of us that get vaccinated then the safer we all will be and the weaker the virus will become over time. As long as our everyday life is disrupted, then we remain in a Pandemic. Assess your symptoms and self-isolate, think of others and wear your mask. If you are elderly have your GP prescribe Anti Viral medications. (My Reference by the way is leading US Pediatrician Dr. Paul Offit of This Week in Virology, (TWiV), YouTube Podcast, Episode 917 at 24 minutes). The sub-variant BA. 5 is expected to become the dominant sub-variant and initial testing has shown the bodies' antibodies have a weaker response to this sub-variant. A full study is presently underway regarding BA.5 with results in a few weeks. I hope this information is of assistance.

No.

[jak2002003]

3 hours ago, JayBird said:

It's a vaccine booster shot.  You're not being asked to climb Everest naked or eat a kilo of dung everyday.  Y'all need to stop being such snowflakes and living in fear of a little needle.

How about not being such a 'snowflake' living in fear of such a little virus?  How about not being so scared that you won't go outside unless you wear double masks and a face shield, plastic gloves and keep washing yourself down the hand sanitizer. ????

[Mattd]

20 minutes ago, mommysboy said:

In the UK, the subvariants are regarded as mild as the parent strain. In fact thus far ICU admissions appear not to have risen in line. I'd rather go with that.

Exactly, both Portugal and SA had the initial wave of the latest sub-variant and neither had excessive deaths compared to Delta or the BA.2 Omicron.

The OP is purely scare tactics.