Thailand is Now Randomly Testing Travellers from S’pore for XBB Subvariant

Singapore is, apparently, the country that has an XBB outbreak right now.

And no, XBB doesn’t stand for xiao bao bei (little baby/darling). Instead, XBB is the new sub-variant driving the current wave of COVID-19 infection.

Thailand will be stepping up surveillance in their airports, and any arrivals from Singapore and Hong Kong with respiratory symptoms will be randomly tested for the XBB variant.

Why Travellers from SG and HK?

Thailand’s Department of Disease Control (DDC) revealed on 14 October that 29 people who arrived in Hong Kong tested positive for the XBB strain.

21 of these cases were returning from Singapore, while three were from Thailand. 24 of these cases were detected upon arrival, while the other five tested positive on their second day in Hong Kong.

The DDC said that investigations into the three XBB cases from Thailand showed that there was no local…