Thailand COVID February 20
Thailand Ministry of Health reports 18,953 new COVID-19 cases and an additional 30 deaths since yesterday. The ministry also announced an additional 13,962 recovered patients.
Department of Medical Sciences director-general Dr. Supakit Sirilak says they are studying the virulence of the BA 2 subvariant. They wanted to see if it is deadlier than the previous variants alpha, beta, and delta. This is in response to the growing concerns about the rising number of cases in Thailand.
Omicron Subvariant
”Normally it takes at least 14 days to follow up on the condition of Covid-19 patients to determine how severe their disease is, while it is actually best to monitor them until they fully recover,” he said.
The treatment seems to be the same as the other variants. The doctors treat the patients based on their symptoms. It is not necessary for them to know the sub-lineage prior to treatment.
“We’re treating patients based on their symptoms. And [once again] Covid-19 vaccines are capable of preventing severe disease, whether it be Delta or Omicron,” he said.
Delta variant has a fatality rate of 200 lives for every 10,000 cases while omicron’s original variant kills about 20 per 10,000 cases. “A great virus is one that kills only between 3% and 5% of the people it infects while it continues to spread,” he added.
”Whether Omicron’s BA.2 sub-variant will be the same or worse remains to be seen,” he said.
Current studies suggest that BA.2 subvariant is more contagious, this has been corroborated by many health experts. All of them are conducting studies on its virulence. It is unknown if it will be resistant to the immunity provided by the vaccinations.
With the Songkran Festival on the horizon, health experts continue to suggest following the universal measures. These are vaccination, social distancing, wearing of masks, and frequent washing of hands.