Thailand has detected five cases of a new coronavirus XBB subvariant called EG.5.1 which is known to spread quickly but has mild symptoms, according to the Department of Medical Sciences.
The department chief Dr Supakit Sirilak said yesterday that the department found one person infected with the EG.5.1 subvariant in April, three cases in May and another case in June. Those patients did not have severe symptoms.
Dr Supakit explained that EG.5.1 or XBB.1.9.2.5.1 belongs to Omicron subvariant XBB.1.9.2, which has a mutation in spike proteins S:F456L and S:Q52H that accelerates its speed of transmission by 45% more than XBB.1.16.
He said in Asia, the new subvariant was found in 11 countries including China, South Korea, Japan, Singapore, Israel, Laos, Indonesia, Taiwan, Thailand and India.
The Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data (GISAID) reported 1,385 cases of EG.5.1 in Europe, 203 cases in Oceania, 35 cases in North America, four cases in Central America and one case in South America.
In Asia between June 4 and July 4, the Omicron subvariant XBB.1.16 was still the dominant strain followed by XBB.1.9.1 and EG.5.1.
Currently, the World Health Organization has focused on eight Omicron subvariants, with two variants of interest and and six variants that are under monitoring.