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Bangkok: 70% of Covid-19 Patients Battling Delta Variant

A study from the Center of Excellence in Clinical Virology at Chulalongkorn University has shown that 70% of those with Covid-19 in Bangkok are infected with the Delta variant.

The center director Yong Poovorawan, who revealed the findings on his Facebook page over the weekend, said the third coronavirus outbreak has been dominated by the Alpha variant. First detected in the UK, it spreads 1.7 times faster than the Wuhan strain.

But the Delta variant, first detected in India, is steadily making inroads as the current outbreak persists and is 1.4 times more transmissible than the Alpha variant.

The center studied more than 700 Covid-19 cases in Bangkok, confirming rapid transmissibility. Its results showed that 70% of the subjects were infected with the Delta variant, but it is difficult to know where the people caught the virus.

Furthermore, the study predicted that the Delta strain would surge, especially in Bangkok.

According to the most recent figures from the Department of Medical Sciences (DoMS), Alpha remained the dominant strain, with 80% of cases, followed by the Delta strain with 16.5% and the Beta variant (first found in South Africa) with 3.2 %.

Meanwhile, health officials reported 44 Covid-19 fatalities and 5,916 new infections on Sunday, bringing the total to 2,182 deaths and 277,151 cases since the pandemic started. They said 5,877 new transmissions were among the general public and 39 in prisons.

Bangkok again reported the most daily infections, with 1,971, followed by 479 in Samut Prakan, 448 in Pathum Thani, 294 in Chon Buri.

There were also 277 new Covid-19 cases in Samut Sakhon, 257 in Nonthaburi, 197 in Pattani, 172 in Songkhla, 169 in Nakhon Pathom and 159 in Yala.