DELTA VARIANT ACCOUNTS FOR 93 PER CENT COVID-19 CASES IN THAILAND

BANGKOK, Aug 24 – The highly contagious Delta variant accounts for 93 per cent of COVID-19 cases in Thailand.
Director-General of Medical Sciences Department Dr Supakit Sirilak said the latest survey from Aug 14 to Aug 20 showed 2,132 of 2,295 samples, or 92.9 per cent, were infected with the Delta variant which was first discovered in India.

“In Bangkok, the Delta variant accounts for 96.7 per cent of COVID-19 cases reported,” he said.

He added that the Alpha variant, first detected in the United Kingdom, accounted for 5.8 per cent of cases sampled.

“The Beta variant, first identified in South Africa, which are mostly found in the southern provinces, accounted for 1.3 per cent of cases sampled,” he said.

Meanwhile, Thailand recorded 17,165 new COVID-19 cases and 226 fatalities over the last 24 hours, bringing the total infections in the kingdom to 1,083,951 and 9,788 deaths to date.

It marks the third consecutive day the number of new cases dropped below 20,000 mark.

— BERNAMA