Thailand’s Disease Control Department is seeking more information, through International Health Regulations (IHR), about three passengers who arrived in Hong Kong from Thailand infected with a new Omicron sub-variant, known as XBB, according to Dr. Tares Krassanairawiwong, acting director-general of Thailand’s Disease Control Department.

He said that 29 XBB cases have been found in Hong Kong, including 24 cases which were detected upon arrival at Hong Kong’s main airport and five who were found two days after their arrival. Most were passengers arriving from Singapore, but three were from Thailand.

Dr. Tares said that the department would like to know whether the passengers are residents of Thailand or transit passengers, among other details.

Singapore reported an average of 7,716 cases per day in the past week, compared with a daily average of 2,000 last month, according to data from Singapore’s Ministry of Health.

Singapore Health Minister Ong Ye Kung expects the caseload to increase further, to 15,000 cases per day on average, which could rise to 20,000 or 25,000 on some days.

Meanwhile, Dr. Sophon Iamsirithavorn, deputy director-general of Thailand’s Disease Control Department, said that XBB cases have not yet been detected in Thailand, adding that monitoring measures at the Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok, and at other international airports across the country, have been stepped.

He said that health officials have been instructed to collect samples from passengers arriving from Singapore, Hong Kong and other countries, where infections of the XBB variant have been reported and who develop symptoms of a respiratory disease, to be sent to the Medical Sciences Department for analysis.

In Thailand, after the country officially entered a post-pandemic period on October 1st, a daily average of 416 new COVID-19 infections and eight fatalities were reported between October 2^nd and 8^th, as the numbers steadily decline.