25 Thais from tour group have Omicron

Residents ride a motorcycle past a mosque in Nonthaburi on Monday. Several Haj pilgrims including some from the province tested positive for the Omicron variant of Covid-19 on returning from Saudi Arabia. Photo by Pattarapong Chatpattarasill
Residents ride a motorcycle past a mosque in Nonthaburi on Monday. Several Haj pilgrims including some from the province tested positive for the Omicron variant of Covid-19 on returning from Saudi Arabia. Photo by Pattarapong Chatpattarasill

Most of the group of 31 Thais who returned from a pilgrimage to the Islamic holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia on Dec 15 have now been found to have been infected with the Omicron coronavirus variant.

Initially, the Nonthaburi provincial health office said that seven returnees tested positive for the variant. On Tuesday, the office reported that it found that total infections among the group number 25 out of the 31.

Those who tested positive are from various parts of the country with 14 coming from Nonthaburi, four from Pathum Thani, four from Ayutthaya, two from Bangkok and one from Nakhon Ratchasima, said the office.

Among the 14 infected people in Nonthaburi, five were confirmed to have Omicron after testing negative for Covid-19 upon arriving in Thailand last Wednesday.

At present, the 25 people are now in state quarantine. People who have been in close contact with the 25 are required to contact local health authorities as soon as possible.

Chiang Rai, meanwhile, announced the confirmation of its first Omicron variant case, a 36-year-old British traveller.

The man left England with a negative RT-PCR Covid-19 test result and he still tested negative upon arriving at Suvarnabhumi airport on Dec 13, said Chiang Rai's governor.

The tourist spent two nights staying at a hotel in Bangkok before travelling by air to Chiang Mai where he met three American friends.

From Chiang Mai, the Briton hired a car with a driver to drop him off in Chiang Khong district of Chiang Rai on Dec 15 where he checked in at a hotel.

The man visited a restaurant near the hotel before he developed a high fever and a sore throat, said the governor, adding that the tourist had then gone to a pharmacy to buy a Covid-19 antigen test kit. He tested positive for Covid-19 that night and went the following morning to a hospital.

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Vocabulary

  • fever: an abnormally high body temperature - ไข้
  • governor: a person who is chosen to be in charge of the government of a state or province or a government agency - ผู้ว่าการรัฐ, ผู้ว่าราชการจังหวัด
  • initially: at first - ในเบื้องต้น
  • meanwhile: at the same time - ในเวลาเดียวกัน
  • pilgrimage: a journey that a person makes to a holy place - เดินทางแสวงบุญ
  • returnee: someone who is "returning" to some place -
  • sore throat: a pain at the back of your mouth - เจ็บคอ
  • state: government - รัฐบาล
  • test negative: to show no signs of being infected by a particular virus, bacteria, etc. - ตรวจพบว่าไม่ติดเชื้อ
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