A record 53 Covid-19 fatalities were reported and 4,786 new cases diagnosed over the past 24 hours, the Public Health Ministry reported on Wednesday morning.
There were 4,659 cases in the general population and 127 among prison inmates.
Over the past 24 hours, 2,415 Covid-19 patients were diagnosed recovered and were discharged from hospitals.
Since April 1, around when the third wave of Covid-19 began, there have been 230,438 Covid-19 patients, 180,053 of whom have recovered.
Since the pandemic started early last year, there have been 259,301 Covid-19 cases, 207,479 of whom recovered.
The death toll was at 1,929 in the third wave and 2,023 from the beginning of the pandemic early last year.
The previous high of daily Covid-19 fatalities was 51 last Saturday when the country logged 4,146 new infections.
Taweesilp Visanuyothin, spokesman for the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration, said in the afternoon briefing that the 53 new fatalities were aged 24-97 years.
Forty-nine were Thais, two from Myanmar and one each from China and the UK.
Thirty-three of the latest fatalities had diabetes and five had not a chronic illness. Fourteen contracted the virus from family members and 16 either visited or lived in outbreak areas.
Thirty-five of the deaths were in Bangkok, three each in Pathum Thani and Samut Prakan, two each in Nakhon Pathom, Yala and Songkhla, and one each in Chanthaburi, Nakhon Sawan, Pattani, Uttaradit, Ubon Ratchathani and Chon Buri.
The 4,786 new cases over the past 24 hours included 4,650 local infections and nine imported cases. Of the local infections, 3,303 were confirmed at hospitals and 1,347 via mass testing.
He also said officials were bringing ventilators from other provinces to help the increasing number of patients in need of them in Bangkok.
“We are facing a large outbreak similar to the situations in some other countries that have imposed lockdowns again. Disruptions to everyday life and transport have occurred in many countries, not only in Thailand.
“Some countries imposed harsh measures but in Thailand we have our own methods,” Dr Taweesilp said.
Bangkok had the most new cases at 1,826, followed by 433 in Samut Prakan, 253 in Samut Sakhon, 208 in Chon Buri, 191 in Nakhon Pathom, 177 in Pathum Thani, 157 in Songkhla, 155 in Nonthaburi, 106 in Yala and 81 in Pattani.
The capital had two new clusters – 25 cases in Soi Khun Nawa community in Bang Rak district and 94 cases at a construction workers’ camp on Soi 50 off Rama II Road in Bang Khunthian district.
It had 108 clusters where there were new Covid-19 cases over the past 14 days.
Samut Prakan also had two new clusters – 33 cases at a cloth factory in Muang district and 54 cases at a food factory in Bang Bo district.
Surat Thani had a new cluster of 19 cases at a construction site in Muang district. The nine imported cases were from Cambodia (seven including five illegal Thai returnees) and Myanmar (two illegal Thai returnees).
As of Tuesday, 49,799 people were receiving treatment for Covid-19 at hospitals including 1,911 critically ill patients and 556 dependent on ventilators. Global Covid-19 cases rose by 373,330 in 24 hours to 182.58 million.
The worldwide death toll went up by 7,640 to 3.95 million. The United States had the most cases at 34.53 million, up 11,427.
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