Villages sealed off to control Covid variant

Officials explain the situation in tambon Koh Sathon of Narathiwat's Tak Bai district on Thursday. The entire tambon is under lockdown. (Photo by Waedao Harai) Nine villages in Tak Bai district, where the first cases of the South African variant of Covid-19 were detected on Saturday, remained closed. Nine villages were under lockdown after health authorities found the South African variant in three people, who recovered from the infections. The South African variant is more contagious and could be more resistant to vaccines, it was reported on Saturday. The strain was imported into Thailand by a Malaysian woman who illegally crossed the border to Thailand with her son and mother-in-law to visit her husband in Tak Bai from April 12-May 4. Aside from the 32-year-old husband, details remained sketchy about the other three people infected with the B.1.351 strain . The man's wife had already returned to Malaysia. The first person found infected with the South African variant was a Thai national who returned from Tanzania in February. The cases in Tak Bai were believed to be first local transmission of the strain .