CHIANG MAI: The Omicron variant has been detected in two foreigners visiting Chiang Mai who tested positive for Covid-19, with confirmation from more lab tests expected in two days.
The tourists were a German and British nationals who arrived in the country under the quarantine-free programme, Test & Go, through Suvarnabhumi airport.
Chiang Mai governor Prajon Pratsakul said the German visitor, 22, passed an RT-PCR test after arriving in Bangkok on Dec 17 and travelled to the northern province on Thai Lion Air flight SL510 on Dec 20.
He stayed overnight at a condominium room in Chang Klan area of Muang district and travelled to Mae Wang district for a jungle trip on Dec 21. He felt exhausted upon his return, and a Covid-19 test at Bangkok Hospital Chiang Mai in Muang district the following day was positive.
His sample was sent to a lab at the Medical Sciences Centre in the province and the result “potentially matched the B.1.1.529 Omicron strain”, according to the Office of Disease Prevention and Control 1 based in Chiang Mai.
The governor said 18 people were deemed a high-risk group due to close contact with him, including 13 passengers who sat near his seat on the plane.
Four passengers on the same flight and a taxi driver tested negative, and health authorities were waiting for the test results of the eight others, he added.
The other case, a 64-year-old British tourist, 64, the man arrived in Bangkok on Dec 18 and passed an RT-PRC test.
He came to Chiang Mai the next day on THAI Smile flight WE110 and stayed at a rented house in San Sai district. On Dec 24, he took an antigen test and the result came out positive, according to the…