Majority of Thailand’s Covid-19 cases of Alpha variant

BANGKOK: Almost 90 per cent of Covid-19 cases in Thailand are of the Alpha coronavirus variant that was first found in the United Kingdom.

According to Thailand’s Department of Medical Sciences (DMS), they came to this conclusion after studying 4,185 cases in Thailand between April and June.

DMS director-general Dr Supakit Sirilak said the analysis that was done, together with university laboratories, found 3,703 or 88.48 per cent of them had the Alpha variant.

The Bangkok Post reported him as saying that only 348 cases or 8.32 per cent had the Delta variant first detected in India, while 98 cases or 2.34 per cent were variants first found in China.

There were also 26 cases of the Beta variant, first found in South Africa.

Dr Supakit said although studies by Public Health England (PHE) and the World Health Organisation showed that the Alpha variant was more contagious and deadly compared with the original strain, vaccinations could still be effective against it.

He added that the Delta variant was more contagious than Alpha but infections were less severe and vaccinations were effective in preventing it.

The Beta variant spreads slower but it has caused more deaths than the original variant, he said.

Dr Supakit said the reports would help people to be aware of these variants and their different effects.

Meanwhile, Thira Woratanarat, an associate professor at Chulalongkorn University’s Faculty of Medicine, said studies in the UK showed the importance of having two doses of the Covid-19 vaccine.

In a Facebook posting, he said that the time interval between the first and second jab must not be too long.

According to the studies in the UK, Thira wrote that infection from the Delta variant could be prevented with one dose of the Pfizer or the AstraZeneca vaccines, but only slightly, so two doses were recommended.

According to PHE, a study conducted from April to May 16, 2021 found that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was 88 per cent effective against symptomatic disease from the Delta variant two weeks after the second dose, compared with 93 per cent effectiveness against the Alpha variant.

The PHE said two doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine were 60 per cent effective against symptomatic disease from the Delta variant compared with 66 per cent effectiveness against the Alpha variant.

On Friday morning, Thailand reported 27 more Covid-19 fatalities and 2,290 new cases in the country. The death toll was at 1,308 in the third wave.