Two XBB cases found in Thailand; Covid screening at airports intensifies

[snoop1130]

 

BANGKOK (NNT) - The number of hospital admissions due to Covid has been on a continual decline in Thailand, but two cases of the XBB strain have now been found. This has prompted the health ministry to elevate the disease screening intensity at airports to screen for infected persons who traveled from abroad.

 

Department of Medical Sciences (DMS) Director-General Supakit Sirilak said 128 Covid samples were randomly inspected last week. All samples were found to be of the Omicron variant, with most being of the BA.5 subvariant. The BA.2.75 subvariant was not found in any of the samples.

 

Dr. Supakit reported two persons were found infected with the XBB subvariant of Omicron. The first is a 60-year-old foreign woman who had traveled from abroad. The person did not experience coughs or fever during isolation, and has already recovered. The second person is a 49-year-old Thai woman who presented with coughs and irritation of the throat. The person did not experience fever and has already recovered.

 

Dr. Supakit said another strain – BF.7 –was found in two persons. The first is a foreign man who resided in Thailand. The latter is a Thai woman who is a healthcare worker. Both were without severe symptoms.

 

Health officials also found 10 persons who were infected with the BN.1 strain. The DMS chief said the BA.5 subvariant remains the primary strain spreading in Thailand.

 

The Department of Disease Control (DDC) urged people traveling abroad to exercise caution and pay heed to the advisory issued by the local health authority. DDC Deputy Director-General Sopon Iamsirithaworn said people should wear face masks in crowded areas and keep social distancing. They should also wash their hands regularly with soap and water or use alcohol gel. Those who have yet to receive the booster dose of vaccine should do so, as the booster shot will lessen symptoms severity in patients.

 

Source: https://thainews.prd.go.th/en/news/detail/TCATG221018102507661

 

-- © Copyright NNT 2022-10-18

 

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[RandiRona]

What screening?? Covid is already here. Get out of this madness, this is 2022.

[josephbloggs]

7 minutes ago, RandiRona said:

What screening?? Covid is already here. Get out of this madness, this is 2022.

I think Thailand generally handled Covid pretty well and protected its people - back in 2020, 2021.  It certainly did much better than the UK and US.  

But really, Covid is done now, we need to move on.  Who cares about every single variant, just get on with your life now.

[anrcaccount]

XBB strain is not something to be feared, the Singapore government recently issued this in response to an inaccurate article published in Thai media- 

 

https://www.gov.sg/article/factually141022-a

[Eleftheros]

5 hours ago, RandiRona said:

What screening?? Covid is already here. Get out of this madness, this is 2022.

Yes, it's all theater at this stage, plus a bit of a chance for meaningless bureaucratic activity.

[RichardColeman]

So, is this strain as deadly as the 50 odd road death and the 50 odd gun deaths every day, or another story to sell masks and hand sanitizer ? 

[Eleftheros]

48 minutes ago, RichardColeman said:

So, is this strain as deadly as the 50 odd road death and the 50 odd gun deaths every day, or another story to sell masks and hand sanitizer ? 

Don't forget the all-new Super Boosters with added protection.

[Bangkok Barry]

The two - TWO - people found to have this strain suffered no symptoms or negative effects at all. None. So why, exactly, is this article published? I suppose a headline of Two People With XBB Strain Suffer No Ill Effects doesn't make interesting reading.

 

[swm59nj]

 Oh yeah. Thailand  initially handled the Covid situation very well.  Especially with the Sinovac  vaccine.  And all the other  chaos  trying to get a vaccine.

Edited October 19, 2022 by swm59nj

[Lucky Bones]

12 hours ago, RandiRona said:

What screening?? Covid is already here. Get out of this madness, this is 2022.

Screening is important.

It finds things.

Things are important.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Screening for the XBB variant is prudent for various reasons, including that early research on it suggests it is highly transmissible (more than Omicron BA5), and is more able to evade protections from vaccines and prior COVID infections.

 

In Singapore, it has driven a large spike in their local cases and increased hospitalizations there as well... though as yet, not any increase in COVID fatalities.

 

"Eric Topol, MD, founder and director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute and Medscape's editor-in-chief, said about COVID this fall: "There will be another wave, magnitude unknown."

 

He said subvariants XBB and BQ.1.1 "have extreme levels of immune evasion and both could pose a challenge," explaining that XBB is more likely to cause trouble than BQ.1.1 because it is even more resistant to natural or vaccine-induced immunity."

 

https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/982113

 

"Experts are also concerned that monoclonal antibody treatments might be less effective against newer variants like XBB and BA.2.75.2. “We’ve not seen this type of immune evasion before,” Michael Osterholm, director of the University of Minnesota’s Centre for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP), told Fortune earlier this month."

 

https://thainewsroom.com/2022/10/13/3-thais-found-infected-with-new-covid-strain-xbb-in-hong-kong/

 

Edited October 19, 2022 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[anrcaccount]

27 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

 

In Singapore, it has driven a large spike in their local cases and increased hospitalizations there as well... though as yet, not any increase in COVID fatalities.

 

 

 

 

https://www.gov.sg/article/factually141022-a

 

"In fact, our local data in the last two weeks shows that XBB cases are estimated to have a 30% lower risk of hospitalisation compared to Omicron BA.5 variant cases. "

 

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Lower hospitalization risk from XBB, as reported by Singapore, isn't the same thing as rising NUMBERS of COVID hospitalizations, as also reported by Singapore

 

You can have a lower risk rate, but if the COVID cases are rising substantially as they have been, the numbers of hospitalizations can still increase.

 

 

https://www.moh.gov.sg/docs/librariesprovider5/local-situation-report/ceg_20221012_weekly_report_on_covid-19.pdf

 

[anrcaccount]

19 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

Lower hospitalization risk from XBB, as reported by Singapore, isn't the same thing as rising NUMBERS of COVID hospitalizations, as also reported by Singapore

 

You can have a lower risk rate, but if the COVID cases are rising substantially as they have been, the numbers of hospitalizations can still increase.

 

 

https://www.moh.gov.sg/docs/librariesprovider5/local-situation-report/ceg_20221012_weekly_report_on_covid-19.pdf

 

The Singapore government went to the effort of issuing a retraction statement to address the undue concern being caused.

 

They are clearly not concerned, but your posts imply we should all be.  

 

You've selectively left out the graph that doesn't support your concern - the week on week infection ratio is plunging. https://www.moh.gov.sg/
 

 

This means the growth rate is slowing significantly. 

 

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

7 minutes ago, anrcaccount said:

The Singapore government went to the effort of issuing a retraction statement to address the undue concern being caused.

 

The Singapore government's statement was about dubious claims made in an article that wasn't posted here in this thread, and those claims were not the ones that I've made here. Singapore was objecting to the following:

 

'The article claimed that increased disease severity of COVID-19 is becoming a common occurrence, even in the fully vaccinated. The article also claimed that mortuaries, funeral parlours, and crematoria are facing a ‘pile up’ in cases. These claims are false."

 

As I noted above, Singapore says it hasn't seen any increase in COVID deaths lately... But as the above graphs show, it's clearly seeing increases in cases and hospitalizations.

 

If you think there's another graph from their report that adds useful information on the subject of rising cases and hospitalizations, go ahead and post it.

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Looks like a pretty sharp recent increase in Singapore COVID cases to me...

 

 

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=singapore+covid+cases

 

Edited October 19, 2022 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[Eleftheros]

3 hours ago, Lucky Bones said:

Screening is important.

It finds things.

Things are important.

We must do something.

This is something.

Therefore we must do it.

[goldenbrwn1]

I came back to Thailand on the 9 th of October . Never had Covid before until I tested positive yesterday . Uk no masks , everyone has moved on . I come here everyone still wearing masks and paranoid . I get Covid ???? 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

2 minutes ago, goldenbrwn1 said:

I came back to Thailand on the 9 th of October . Never had Covid before until I tested positive yesterday . Uk no masks , everyone has moved on . I come here everyone still wearing masks and paranoid . I get Covid ???? 

 

Did you wear a face mask during your airplane trip?  Were you wearing a face mask while in Thailand prior to testing positive yesterday?

 

Perhaps, that's a signal that COVID is alive and well-circulating in Thailand, even though the government has tried to deprecate it in order to attempt to revive tourism.

 

[anrcaccount]

22 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

The Singapore government's statement was about dubious claims made in an article that wasn't posted here in this thread, and those claims were not the ones that I've made here. Singapore was objecting to the following:

 

'The article claimed that increased disease severity of COVID-19 is becoming a common occurrence, even in the fully vaccinated. The article also claimed that mortuaries, funeral parlours, and crematoria are facing a ‘pile up’ in cases. These claims are false."

 

As I noted above, Singapore says it hasn't seen any increase in COVID deaths lately... But as the above graphs show, it's clearly seeing increases in cases and hospitalizations.

 

If you think there's another graph from their report that adds useful information on the subject of rising cases and hospitalizations, go ahead and post it.

 

As you request, here it is, showing the week on week infection rate plunging, that data implies the 'peak' has already passed. Have also shown the cases graph .

 

Combine that with the lower severity of XBB,  and we have nothing to be concerned about.

 

 

 

 

[goldenbrwn1]

21 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

Did you wear a face mask during your airplane trip?  Were you wearing a face mask while in Thailand prior to testing positive yesterday?

 

Perhaps, that's a signal that COVID is alive and well-circulating in Thailand, even though the government has tried to deprecate it in order to attempt to revive tourism.

 

Yeh wore a mask throughout flight with EVA and I ‘reluctantly’ went back to wearing a face mask whilst here. The motorcycle taxis with masks on under their helmets, people sat in cars alone with them on became yet again an hilarious sight to me.  I caught it off my son who is in university here. He tested positive 2 days after I arrived on the 11th. I thought I escaped it tbh .  Also I’m on my second day since symptoms started and I tested positive and feeling a lot better already.  I do take a lot of vitamin d and zinc supplements and although 50, keep myself really fit. 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

47 minutes ago, anrcaccount said:

As you request, here it is, showing the week on week infection rate plunging, that data implies the 'peak' has already passed. Have also shown the cases graph .

 

Combine that with the lower severity of XBB,  and we have nothing to be concerned about.

 

 

 

 

 

The latest weekly report today from Singapore shows a flattening of their running 7-day average of daily new cases, not a decline in the 7-day average, and continuing increases in hospitalizations.

 

 

 

 

https://www.moh.gov.sg/docs/librariesprovider5/local-situation-report/ceg_20221019_weekly_report_on_covid-19.pdf

 

 

[Letseng]

17 hours ago, anrcaccount said:

XBB strain is not something to be feared, the Singapore government recently issued this in response to an inaccurate article published in Thai media- 

 

https://www.gov.sg/article/factually141022-a

Small country like Singapore today had almost 13000 new infections. Hospital beds start filling. It's over? Ask the ones who don't survive. Germany reported the highest no. of infections since begin of pandemic.  Many hospitals no longer take patients. It's over? Think again.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Found this additional info from Singapore as of Oct. 15 on how the XBB variant has quickly become the main variant in their country, surpassing BA5.

 

"In Singapore, XBB is now the predominant subvariant circulating in the community, accounting for 54% of local cases during the week of 3 to 9 October, from 22% the previous week (Figure 1). The previously dominant subvariant, BA.5, is now estimated to account for 21% of local cases, while the subvariant BA.2.75 is estimated to account for 24% of cases.

...

As of 14 October 2022, the number of cases hospitalised, requiring oxygen supplementation and in the intensive care unit (ICU) are at 562, 44 and 9 respectively, compared to 365, 37 and 13 a week ago."

...

Based on current information, MOH expects that this XBB infection wave will peak by around mid-November 2022."

 

https://www.moh.gov.sg/news-highlights/details/update-on-covid-19-situation-and-measures-to-protect-healthcare-capacity

 

 

[BangkokReady]

22 hours ago, josephbloggs said:

I think Thailand generally handled Covid pretty well and protected its people - back in 2020, 2021.  It certainly did much better than the UK and US. 

I think it's more that covid never really properly arrived in Thailand until Delta, for one of many possible reasons.

[onthedarkside]

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