The Public Health Ministry on Sunday played down concerns raised by the first case of the XE Covid-19 strain in the country, saying there is no need to panic.
The head of the Centre for Medical Genomics (CMG) at Ramathibodi Hospital, which diagnosed the patient found with the strain, said the individual had already made a full recovery.
Thailand on Saturday reported its first case of Omicron XE, a combination of two previous versions of the Omicron variant, shortly after the World Health Organisation (WHO) warned about the new hybrid.
The WHO on Saturday issued a warning over the XE Omicron variant that many in the medical field fear could be the most transmissible yet.
The XE recombinant was first detected in the UK on Jan 19, the WHO said.
The head of the CMG said they normally receive virus samples for testing about a week after an infection is confirmed, which explains why by the time the results are known, most patients have already nearly recovered.
The centre said Omicron XE is 10% more transmissible than BA.2 and 43% more transmissible than the original Omicron (B.1.1.529).
