The Ministry of Public Health reports that the country currently remains free of the Mu COVID-19 variant and urged people not to panic if more variants are detected.
Department of Medical Sciences (DMS) Director-General Dr. Supakit Sirilak said the department and its alliances have found no Mu infections in the country and the Delta strain remains the prevalent COVID-19 variant. The Mu variant (B.1.621) only makes up less than 0.1% of the world’s cases, but it has been found in at least 39 countries, including in the US, the UK and Japan.
According to the DMS, the Delta variant makes up 97.6% of COVID-19 cases in Bangkok, with the rest being the Alpha variant. Outside the capital, Delta makes up 84.8% of cases, followed by 9.5% of Alpha and 5.7% Beta, which is only found in the far southern provinces. Last week, the department found 28 Beta cases in Narathiwat, two in Pattani and one in Yala.
Dr. Supakit added that the DMS is aiming to collect at least 10,000 COVID-19 samples from more varied groups by the year’s end, especially in Phuket province, to conduct whole genome sequencing, which will assist in gaining a better understanding of vaccines’ performance against the virus. (NNT)
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