Thailand reviews first native Omicron case, eyes reinstating quarantine

Thailand is contemplating reinstating obligatory quarantine for overseas guests, because the well being ministry on Monday reported the nation’s first case of native transmission of the Omicron variant.
The public well being ministry will suggest scrapping quarantine waiver for vaccinated guests and revert to resort quarantine and a “sandbox” programme, which permits free motion in particular places, based on public well being minister Anutin Charnvirakul.
The proposal was pushed by worries over the unfold of Omicron, Anutin informed the Inside Thailand tv present, including that it will likely be made to the federal government’s Covid-19 taskforce “soon”.

The minister’s remarks come after Thailand reopened to overseas guests in November, ending practically 18 months of strict entry insurance policies that contributed to a collapse in tourism, a key trade and an financial driver that drew 40 million guests in 2019.
Thailand has detected 63 individuals contaminated with the Omicron variant to date, Anutin stated, with one case of native transmission and the remainder being imported circumstances.
The first regionally transmitted case was present in a Thai girl who examined optimistic for Omicron after contracting the virus from her husband, a Colombian who returned to Thailand from Nigeria in late November, a well being ministry official stated in a every day briefing.
“She is potentially the first in Thailand to get Omicron from an overseas traveller, her husband, and the first locally transmitted case,” stated Chakrarat Pittayawonganon, an official from the Disease Control Department.

Both the husband and the spouse had been absolutely vaccinated with the AstraZeneca vaccine, he knowledgeable.
The couple had one high-risk contact, a taxi driver, who’s being quarantined, pending a second coronavirus take a look at due on Wednesday, Chakrarat added.