Thailand braced for infections spike after detecting UK COVID-19 variant

BANGKOK—Thailand has detected at least 24 cases of the coronavirus variant B.1.1.7 first identified in Britain, a government health expert said on Wednesday, its first known domestic transmission of the highly contagious variant.

The SARS-CoV-2 variant known as B.1.1.7 has been found in more than 100 countries and has been blamed for fueling new waves of infections in record numbers.

The UK variant was found in a cluster of 24 visitors to entertainment venues in Bangkok, which were detected at the weekend. Nearly 200 such venues have been closed for two weeks.

"We did everything to block it, and it still gets through," Yong Poovorawan, a government expert and virologist at Chulalongkorn University, told a health ministry briefing.

"This variant is very viral and can spread 1.7 times faster than the usual strain," he said.

Thailand has seen infections jump in the past week, although numbers are still low compared to some of its regional neighbors.

It recorded 334 new infections on Wednesday, with no new deaths, bringing its case total to 29,905 and 95 fatalities.

Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha instructed authorities to prepare field hospitals in anticipation of a spike in infections.

Ten of his ministers and dozens of lawmakers were self-isolating on Wednesday due to exposure to positive cases.

"We can handle things right now and I have instructed the preparation for field hospitals in Bangkok area," Prayuth said of the rise in cases.

"We could need these field hospitals in case the pandemic worsens," he added.

Confirmation of the presence of the B.1.1.7 variant will be a setback for Thailand, which is just a week away from one of its biggest holiday periods.

B.1.1.7 is as much as 70% more transmissible than existing variants, and far deadlier, according to British scientists. 

Yong said he was puzzled at how community transmission had occurred given Thailand's strict border controls, quarantine and testing protocols, which in January had detected the variant in a family traveling from Britain, who were isolated.

Opas Karnkawinpong of the Department of Disease Control warned of thousands of new daily infections if restrictions are not followed during the holiday period.

Thailand is aiming to start is mass immunisation campaign from June but has been vaccinating health workers or people deemed vulnerable, with more than 300,000 recipients so far, according to the Health Ministry.

(Reporting by Panu Wongcha-um and Panarat Thempgumpanat; Editing by Martin Petty)

-reuters-

Snap lockdown ordered in Australia's Brisbane after virus outbreak

BRISBANE, Australia - More than two million people in Brisbane were ordered into a three-day lockdown Monday after a cluster of coronavirus cases was detected in Australia's third-biggest city.

It is the second snap lockdown of Brisbane and the city's surrounds this year, coming after seven people tested positive for Covid-19 -- the first significant community outbreak in Australia in weeks.

"This is the UK strain. It is highly infectious. We need to do this now to avoid a longer lockdown," Queensland state Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said.

"We've seen what's happened in other countries. I don't want to see that happen to Queensland, I don't want to see that happen to Australia."

Schools, restaurants and bars will close from 5:00pm Monday but people will still be allowed to leave home for essential work, to buy food, exercise and for medical care.

Wearing masks in public is also becoming mandatory across Queensland, after one infectious person travelled to the regional town of Gladstone.

The number of international flight arrivals will be halved, to ease pressure on hospitals also dealing with a surge in Covid-19 cases from neighboring Papua New Guinea.

Australia has been relatively successful in curbing the spread of Covid-19, with just over 29,000 cases and 909 deaths during the pandemic to date.

However the country's vaccine rollout has been sluggish, with just over 500,000 shots administered so far in a country of 25 million.

Palaszczuk said lockdowns would "be part of the Australian way of life until everyone is vaccinated".

Before the announcement, Brisbane was among several Australian cities enjoying relaxed restrictions with residents able to freely attend events including concerts and sporting matches.

Agence France-Presse

India to test travelers from Brazil, S. Africa, UK after detecting new virus strains

NEW DELHI — India will make COVID-19 molecular tests mandatory for people arriving directly or indirectly from the United Kingdom, South Africa and Brazil in a bid to contain the spread of more infectious virus variants found in those countries.

India, which has reported the highest number of overall COVID-19 cases after the United States, detected the South African variant in four people last month and the Brazilian one in one person this month.

The government has said the South African and Brazilian strains can more easily infect a person's lungs than the UK mutation. India has so far reported 187 cases of infection with the UK variant.

The government late on Wednesday said airlines would be required from next week to segregate inbound travelers from those countries. India does not have direct flights with Brazil and South Africa, and most people travelling from these countries generally transit through Middle Eastern airports.

"All the travelers arriving from/transiting through flights originating in United Kingdom, Europe or the Middle East shall be mandatorily subjected to self-paid confirmatory molecular tests on arrival," India's Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said in a statement.

All flyers will also have to carry a recent COVID-negative report before boarding any flight to India, except in extraordinary circumstances like death in a family.

India has so far reported about 11 million coronavirus cases and more than 155,000 deaths. Cases have come down sharply since a mid-September peak of nearly 100,000 a day.

A government serological survey released this month, however, said nearly 300 million of India's 1.35 billion people may already have been infected by the virus.

The country has also administered 9.2 million vaccine doses since starting its campaign on Jan. 16.

-reuters-