Bangkok-
The coronavirus strain, found among quarantined Thai returnees from abroad, is the mutated G strain, which has been spreading in the United States and Europe. It is not the S strain, which originally spread in Thailand, according to Dr. Yong Poovorawan of Chulalongkorn University, Thailand’s top virologist.
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He told associated press this week that, if there is a second wave of infections in Thailand, the G strain virus, or G614 specifically, will be dominant, because it is about ten times more contagious than the S strain, originally identified in Asia, but it does not appear to be more deadly.
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Dr. Yong said that the CCSA (Center for Covid-19 Situation Administration) has been cooperating closely with the Institute for Prevention and Control of Urban Diseases in order to study infections in state quarantine facilities, so that Thailand will be better prepared in case there is a second outbreak, most likely of the G strain.
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Dr. Yong, along with other leading Thai doctors such as Thira Woratanarat, who is an epidemiologist at Chulalongkorn University and Prof. Dr. Prasit Watanapa have repeatedly made warnings about the virus and warned against potentially opening borders for travel bubbles or international tourism. Both have daily updates on the virus that they post on their social media channels for their followers.
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Here is our previous coverage on some of the warnings made by Dr. Prasit
Source: Thai National News Bureau with additional material from The Pattaya News team