BANGKOK: Thailand has reported 5,397 cases of the highly transmissible Omicron variant in its 71 of 77 provinces, to date.
Director of Risk Communication and Health Behaviour Development Bureau of the Disease Control Department, Dr Sumanee Watcharasin, said since Nov 1, the Omicron variant accounted for 35.17 per cent of new COVID-19 cases in the kingdom.
She said Bangkok topped the list of highest number of Omicron cases with 1,820. This is followed by Chonburi (521) and Phuket (288).
“Delta variant is still the dominant COVID-19 strain in Thailand, accounting for 64.71 per cent, while Alpha and Beta accounted for 0.01 per cent and 0.03 per cent, respectively,” she said at a press conference today.
Data by Disease Control Department showed the Omicron variant is the dominant COVID-19 variant in the week between Jan 2 to 8, accounting for 70.3 per cent of new cases, with the Delta at 29.7 per cent of cases during the same period.
Over the last 24 hours, Thailand recorded 7,926 new COVID-19 cases, including 412 imported cases and 13 fatalities, bringing the total number of infections in the kingdom to 2,277,476 and 21,838 deaths to date.
Dr Sumanee said the 412 imported cases included 398 travellers who entered the kingdom via quarantine-free “Test & Go” and “Sandbox” programme.
She said 13 new fatalities involved nine women and four men aged between 30 and 89 years old, where 10 of them were unvaccinated or received only one dose of a vaccine.
Meanwhile, Thailand plans to intensify its testing programme to detect COVID-19 cases in bid to stem Omicron cases in the kingdom, government spokesperson Thanakorn Wangboonkongchana said.
He said proactive tests and isolation of COVID-19 patients will contain the spread of the virus.
“Prime Minister Prayuth Chan o-cha has instructed related agencies and departments to brace for the surge of COVID-19 cases fuelled by Omicron variant,” he said.
