COVID-19 is on the rise but easy to prevent, no need to panic

COVID-19 - Photo 1.

Thai health experts say the Omicron XEC variant dominant in the country spreads rapidly but is not dangerous - Photo: THAIPOST

About 80% of the deaths were elderly people with underlying medical conditions. In addition, Thai medical experts discovered that the virus strain that has spread widely in recent times is Omicron XEC.

The Omicron XEC sub-variant shares the same fast-spreading but less severe disease characteristics as the Omicron variant. The case fatality rate of this variant remains at 0.03%.

According to Thai PBS, children aged 0-4 are the most susceptible to COVID-19, followed by those aged 30-39 and those aged 20-29.

COVID-19 is already a seasonal disease

According to Professor Yong Poovorawan, a virologist at the Royal Thai Academy of Sciences, COVID-19 has now become a seasonal disease.

Cases are expected to peak in May and June and decline in July. However, the virus can persist and recur each year.

However, the condition of the cases is not serious because most people have immunity through vaccination or have had COVID-19 before.

"The death rate is decreasing every year. Since it became a seasonal disease, Thailand recorded 220 deaths in 2024. Although the number of cases this year is higher than last year, health experts believe that the number of deaths will be much lower than in 2024," Professor Yong added.

"The majority of COVID-19 cases in Thailand now are infected with the XEC variant. They only have mild symptoms so they don't know they have COVID-19 but can still spread it.

Therefore, COVID-19 has the opportunity to spread widely and quickly," Professor Yong explained about the rapid increase in the number of COVID-19 cases in Thailand in recent times.

According to him, to limit the continued spread of COVID-19, non-pharmaceutical interventions (NIPs), such as proper hand washing, wearing masks when sick or in crowded places, eating cooked food and drinking boiled water, and choosing clean food are more important than vaccination.

The professor said that when infected with COVID-19, patients only need to treat the symptoms and will recover after a short time. Except for special cases such as the elderly or those with underlying medical conditions, they should visit the hospital for monitoring and treatment.

Omicron XEC Variant

The Genetics Research Center of the Faculty of Medicine, Ramathibodi Hospital, Mahidol University declared the XEC variant to be a hybrid variant.

This variant is derived from the JN.1 variant - a variant that emerged in early 2024, a "descendant" of the Omicron variant, has the ability to evade immunity, different mutations and is classified by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a "worrying" variant due to its ability to spread quickly.

On the other hand, the WHO also said in a document that the XEC variant does not pose a serious public health risk. However, its ability to spread more strongly than the Omicron variant could increase the burden on countries' public health systems.

According to Yale University's Yale Daily News, by the end of 2024, the XEC variant had spread to at least 29 states across the US and was the variant found in the majority of COVID-19 cases.

A Yale medical expert said the "recombinant" XEC variant is not a concern because it is a hybrid variant of two other variants within the same Omicron strain.

UYEN PHUONG

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/covid-19-gia-tang-nhung-de-phong-khong-can-hoang-loan-20250514190338722.htm