May 23, 2023
BANGKOK – Covid-19 cases in the Thailand are continuing to surge with fatalities nearly doubling from the previous week.
The weekly hospitalisation cases reached 2,632, with an average of 376 cases per day, an increase of 276 cases from the previous week. Weekly deaths reached 64, with an average of 7 deaths per day, showing an increase of 42 deaths from the previous week. There were 401 cases of pneumonia and 226 cases requiring respiratory support, according to Associate Professor Dr Thira Woratanarat of Chulalongkorn University Faculty of Medicine.
Dr. Thira posted on Facebook, providing data on the severity rates of each sub-variant in Singapore, based on research conducted by Singapore’s Ministry of Health, published in “medRxiv” on May 10 this year.
When comparing the XBB.1.5, XBB.1.16, XBB.1.9, and XBB.2.3 sub-variants of Covid-19 in the vaccinated population of Singapore, mostly with mRNA vaccines, the following findings were observed:
— Severe illness rate was approximately 6-8%.
— The rate of infection leading to hospitalisation was 29-37%.
— The rate of mild infection not requiring hospitalisation was around 55-63%.
The XBB.2.3 subvariant, which is the latest sub-variant monitored by the World Health Organisation, appears to have a 37% rate of infection and hospitalisation, which is 3-8% higher than other sub-variants, Dr Thira said.