UK strain behind flare-up

The fast-spreading British variant of Covid-19 is responsible for the latest cluster of infections that have been detected in entertainment venues across Bangkok, a virus expert said on Wednesday.

“We don’t know how it could have been found here given the fact that we have the state quarantine system. If possible, there should not be any travel or movement right now. If that’s not possible, it is highly necessary to have strict measures to control the disease,” Yong Poovorawan, Head of the Centre of Excellence in Clinical Virology at the Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University, said on Wednesday at a press conference at the Public Health Ministry.

Dr Yong warned against unnecessary travel during the upcoming Songkran period when he estimated the number of new infections could skyrocket.https://8c55b0b728f417564cd260e0004717d4.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html

“Without sufficient intervention taken to curb these high-risk activities [during the Songkran holiday], the number of new infections could even reach thousands per day,” Dr Yong said.

The estimate of the infection rate per day was calculated by taking into consideration both the highly contagious rate of the British variant — 1.7 times higher than the original virus — and the currently relaxed Covid-19 control measures in place, about 10 times less strict than those implemented during last year’s Songkran period, he said.

Since activities aimed at stimulating the economy go against the containment of Covid-19, the government should find a balance, he said.

“The reason is that if there are so many new cases of Covid-19, economic stimulus through promotion of tourism won’t work as nobody would want to travel to an epidemic zone,” he said.

“Visiting older relatives during this festival is good, but it won’t be good if such visits mean spreading the virus to them also,” he said.

The older the people infected with the British variant are, the higher the risk of them developing severe symptoms, he said. If possible, he said the Thai tradition of visiting older relatives during Songkran should this year be conducted online instead.

Currently, most of the new infection cases involve young people who show no or few symptoms, which makes it more difficult to distinguish between those who are infected and those who are not, he said.

The infected people, however, have a heightened concentration of the virus in their throats, which increases the risk of them spreading the virus to older relatives they plan to visit during Songkran, he said.

Source   –  https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2096591/uk-strain-behind-flare-up