Thailand detects FU.1 Covid sub-variant, 50% more transmissible than XBB.1.16

[webfact]

Photo Courtesy of Freepik

 

by Mitch Connor

Thailand’s Centre for Medical Genomics has reported a single case of the Covid-19 sub-variant known as “FU.1” or XBB.1.16.1.1, which is said to be 50% more transmissible than XBB.1.16. The Omicron variant continues to mutate into new sub-variants, despite a decrease in global Covid cases.

 

Currently, the dominant Omicron sub-variants are XBB.1.5, XBB.1.16, and XBB.1.9.1. The Centre for Medical Genomics at Ramathibodi Hospital revealed that XBB.1.16 and XBB.1.9.1 have become the dominant strains worldwide, including in Singapore and Thailand. The centre analysed genomic codes from Thai Covid patients and the global genomic database Gisaid between April 15 and May 15.

The results showed that 93.5% of Omicron cases in Thailand were of the XBB sub-variant, with 19% being XBB.1.16, 10% XBB.1.5, and 8.4% XBB.1.9.1.

 

Full story: https://thethaiger.com/news/national/thailand-detects-fu-1-covid-sub-variant-50-more-transmissible-than-xbb-1-16

 

-- © Copyright Thaiger 2023-05-18

 

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[greg71]

I wonder when FU2 will be the dominant strain .

[peter zwart]

Fine. Next topic please.

[Thailand]

8 minutes ago, greg71 said:

I wonder when FU2 will be the dominant strain .

I think that this would be the reply most would be giving after seeing the headline which actually begged for that response.

[ikke1959]

because mask wearing did not make that bthe people built up group immunity.

[h90]

17 minutes ago, ikke1959 said:

because mask wearing did not make that bthe people built up group immunity.

the high infectious variants ignore the mask anyway.....Here in the office someone is sniffing or coughing all the time....no one care no one uses masks....but the put on the mask when they are alone outside...... The inverse mask you only wear it in places without any risk

[rabas]

2 hours ago, greg71 said:

I wonder when FU2 will be the dominant strain .

Just arrived.

 

 

here:

https://nextstrain.org/nextclade/sars-cov-2?branchLabel=aa&label=clade:22F

 

 

 

[rabas]

2 hours ago, h90 said:

the high infectious variants ignore the mask anyway.....Here in the office someone is sniffing or coughing all the time....no one care no one uses masks....but the put on the mask when they are alone outside...... The inverse mask you only wear it in places without any risk

Wrong. A mask stops all SARS-2 particles equally. It doesn't know what strain its blocking. If a virus is 50% more infective with an N95 mask, it will be 3000% more infective if you take it off.

 

Your reasoning that its so infective you don't need a mask is backwards.

 

[BenStark]

2 hours ago, ikke1959 said:

because mask wearing did not make that bthe people built up group immunity.

We all know by now how group immunity worked out in Sweden

[dinsdale]

No suprise. New Omicron variants/sub-variants will come and go. Each one more contagious but  no more severe than the previous. So far it's only one case. Will it become dominant? Who knows. Will it be a non severe/mild virul infection for the majority? Yes, it will. It's an Omicron XBB sub- variant.

[h90]

14 minutes ago, rabas said:

Wrong. A mask stops all SARS-2 particles equally. It doesn't know what strain its blocking. If a virus is 50% more infective with an N95 mask, it will be 3000% more infective if you take it off.

 

Your reasoning that its so infective you don't need a mask is backwards.

 

More infective means less virus particle are enough to infect you and at some point it does not make a difference anymore. As you get infected like 2 seconds later with mask.....if subway is complete crowded you get it when it is highly infective with or without mask.

[stoner]

1 hour ago, PremiumLane said:

Covid is now harmless? You better go and tell the virologists about this new revelation. 

although it is spreading fast, there has not been evidence that it could cause severe illnesses and considerable fatalities.....dr supakit said ...director general department of medical sciences

[JimTripper]

6 hours ago, h90 said:

the high infectious variants ignore the mask anyway.....Here in the office someone is sniffing or coughing all the time....no one care no one uses masks....but the put on the mask when they are alone outside...... The inverse mask you only wear it in places without any risk

Could be for pollution. Masks were being worn long before Covid hit.

[dinsdale]

37 minutes ago, stoner said:

although it is spreading fast, there has not been evidence that it could cause severe illnesses and considerable fatalities.....dr supakit said ...director general department of medical sciences

Indeed. It is Omicron. I'm sure those living in fear and unwilling to see the scientific evidence, unwilling to see that globally covid infections are decreasing, unwilling to acknowledge that's it's pretty much just another viral infection, unwilling to get on with life, will give my post the old sad or laughing emoji. The sad thing is that people are still locked in to 3 years ago when it was Delta a completely different beast.

[Bday Prang]

30 minutes ago, Sunderland said:

Now tell us about all the other coronavirus subvariants and rhinovirus subvariants. 

 

This is only news in Thailand. Almost nobody else in the world cares in the slightest. At this stage the masking of kids in schools, masking while driving alone in cars, masking in 40 degree sunshine is as mad as following a religious cult.

 

People are welcome to their other opinions, but in the "normal" world, these "new normal" measures are abnormal.
 

Every time a new variant emerges , it is claimed to be more infectious than previous variants,  but with milder symptoms ?   Just how infectious can something be ??  Surely after all these mutations we must be approaching the absolute upper limit limit of "infectiousness", and the absolute  lower limit of unpleasant symptoms. 

So what is the logical eventual outcome? presumably a virus that everybody catches but nobody realises they have caught it,  Bit like chlamydia 

[rabang]

11 minutes ago, dinsdale said:

Indeed. It is Omicron. I'm sure those living in fear and unwilling to see the scientific evidence, unwilling to see that globally covid infections are decreasing, unwilling to acknowledge that's it's pretty much just another viral infection, unwilling to get on with life, will give my post the old sad or laughing emoji. The sad thing is that people are still locked in to 3 years ago when it was Delta a completely different beast.

Very few people are... but Thailand is one of the few places or maybe the only one where it still seems to be an issue, which is reflected in the attitutes of a few members at this site, such as asking others to still mask up. From the outside it is mind boggling.

[Sunderland]

23 minutes ago, JimTripper said:

Could be for pollution. Masks were being worn long before Covid hit.

It is commonly quoted point. It is true that masks were being worn long before Covid, but the numbers were very low indeed. Certainly far fewer than in Japan, and even in Japan the maximum was about 10-20% at its peak pre-Covid. 

[anrcaccount]

This type of obscure variant reporting, is not news anywhere else in the world

 

Why Thailand persists with covid media coverage like this is an absolute mystery. 

 

Time to "Move Forward" on this as well as the government. Both would massively benefit the people. 

[onthedarkside]

Posts with unsubstantiated and unsupported misinformation have been removed. If you state something as fact than please supply a link to where the information was obtained.

 

A post on moderation also removed

[dinsdale]

26 minutes ago, rabang said:

Very few people are... but Thailand is one of the few places or maybe the only one where it still seems to be an issue, which is reflected in the attitutes of a few members at this site, such as asking others to still mask up. From the outside it is mind boggling.

It's an issue because it's in the news and people with no idea about perspective gooble it up.. This is the State of New South Wales, Australia. Population 8.18 million. Doesn't make the news. People don't wear masks.

 

COVID-19 hospitalisations and deaths in NSW up to 4pm 11 May 2023

1,292people in hospital

31people in ICU

59lives lost in the past 7 days

https://www.health.nsw.gov.au/Infectious/covid-19/Pages/stats-nsw.aspx

 

 

[Bday Prang]

50 minutes ago, JimTripper said:

Could be for pollution. Masks were being worn long before Covid hit.

 not in supermarkets and not whilst alone in their cars

[anrcaccount]

1 hour ago, Bday Prang said:

 not in supermarkets and not whilst alone in their cars

Vast majority of thai people had never worn a mask pre 2020. That's a fact.

 

 

 

 

[dinsdale]

Just seen on BP the scare campaign continuing. Children need watching is the theme but you have to get to the end of the article where it says it's not serious. 

[thecyclist]

That Omicron stuff with one subvariant after another is getting boring. Time for an exciting new strain. 

[klauskunkel]

Covid “FU1”  an abbreviation for a popular insult with numerical room to grow...

[Puccini]

13 hours ago, webfact said:

...the Covid-19 sub-variant known as “<deleted>.1”...

Isn't <deleted> classified as a dirty word on this forum. or is it only F.U.?

 

P.S. I see that it got changed to <deleted>. “<deleted>.1” apparently passes the test. What about without the quotation marks, ie <deleted>.1?

 

P.S. 2. Nope, nothing doing.  XBB.1.16.1.1 it be, then.

 

P.S. 3. I see that greg71 got away with FU2. Let's see about FU1.

 

[freedomnow]

6 hours ago, anrcaccount said:

This type of obscure variant reporting, is not news anywhere else in the world

 

Why Thailand persists with covid media coverage like this is an absolute mystery. 

 

Time to "Move Forward" on this as well as the government. Both would massively benefit the people. 

Yip, about to say that as well...

In the UK barely see a masked person anytime...or scaremonger variant news articles.

 

Like a distant bad memory now.

[PremiumLane]

13 hours ago, stoner said:

although it is spreading fast, there has not been evidence that it could cause severe illnesses and considerable fatalities.....dr supakit said ...director general department of medical sciences

so, still not harmless, and why is not causing severe illness?

[stoner]

1 hour ago, PremiumLane said:

so, still not harmless, and why is not causing severe illness?

maybe ask dr supakit. he is the professional. 

[Pink Mist]

 A misinformation post and reply have been removed.