Two Thais Returning From Nigeria Test Positive For Omicron

By Linda Khoo Hui Li BANGKOK, Dec 9 (Bernama) -- Two Thais returning from Nigeria are the latest potential case for the Omicron variant of COVID-19 in Thailand. Assistant spokesperson for the Centre for COVID-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) Dr Sumanee Wacharasin said the two women aged 46 and 36 years old had travelled to Lagos, Nigeria to attend a Christian conference between Nov 13 and 23. The two unvaccinated women returned to Thailand on Nov 24 and underwent mandatory quarantine as they were unvaccinated. “Their RT-PCR result on Nov 24 were positive for COVID-19. They were admitted to hospital for treatment. “As the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared Omicron as a variant of concern on Nov 26, the health authorities conducted genomic sequencing of the samples taken from the two. “The initial genomic sequencing results showed they had potentially contracted the new variant of the virus. A full genomic sequencing will be conducted,” she said at the COVID-19 briefing here Wednesday. Meanwhile, Sumanee said another Thai woman from the group who travelled to Sweden after the Lagos’ trip also tested positive for COVID-19. To date, with the two latest cases, Thailand now has three potential Omicron variant carriers all of whom were found COVID-19 positive via RT-PCR tests upon arrival. There are no reported cases of community transmissions. On Monday, Thailand reported its first potential case of Omicron variant – a male American traveling from Spain. Over the last 24 hours, Thailand reported 3,618 new COVID-19 cases and 38 fatalities, bringing the total infection in the kingdom to 2,151,384 and 21,035 deaths. -- BERNAMA