Health authorities reported another 38 Covid-19 fatalities on Wednesday and 3,440 new cases, bringing the accumulated toll to 1,107 deaths and the number of cases since the start of the pandemic to 165,462.
The Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration said 2,353 of the new infections were in the general population and 1,087 in prisons.
On Tuesday, 2,843 patients were deemed recovered and were discharged from hospitals.
The country has logged 136,599 infections since April 1, around the time the third wave of Covid-19 began.
Apisamai Srirangson, a spokeswoman for the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration, said during the afternoon briefing that the latest fatalities were aged from 10 months to 95 years, and consisted of 24 males and 14 females.
There were 18 more deaths in Bangkok, four in Samut Prakan, three each in Chon Buri and Pathum Thani, two each in Chachoengsao, Nonthaburi and Surat Thani and one each in Ayutthaya, Roi Et, Ratchaburi and Udon Thani.
Twenty-three of them had hypertension and 14 suffered from diabetes. Eleven caught Covid-19 from relatives and nine from hospitals, friends, colleagues, neighbours or maids.
“As many as eight cases died within one week of being diagnosed with the disease. This shows that the patients were unaware that they were infected. They arrived at hospitals when their symptoms were already serious,” Dr Apisamai said.
The 3,440 new cases over the previous 24 hours included 2,338 local infections in the general population in 56 provinces, and 15 imported cases. Of the local infections, 1,175 were confirmed at hospitals and 1,163 via mass testing.
Bangkok logged the most cases at 680, followed by 466 in Samut Prakan, 449 in Phetchaburi, 176 in Trang, 78 in Samut Sakhon, 62 in Nonthaburi, 39 in Pathum Thani, 34 in Narathiwat, 33 in Ayutthaya and 29 in Chon Buri.
Dr Apisamai said there were 48 active Covid-19 clusters in Bangkok, including a new one – a department store in Lat Phrao area with 23 cases.
Samut Prakan province had 186 new cases at Samrong market, 36 new cases at a sauce factory, a new cluster of 74 cases at an ice factory and 16 new cases in local markets and communities in Bang Phli district.
Phetchaburi’s cluster at Cal-Comp Electronics (Thailand) had 438 new cases and had already spread Covid-19 in 11 provinces.
Trang had a Covid-19 cluster at a local glove factory which was spreading the disease to local communities in Muang, Kantang and Yan Ta Khao districts, Dr Apisamai said.
Samut Sakhon had a new cluster of 42 new cases at a factory of products for children in Krathum Baen district.
Narathiwat had 28 new cases in communities of Tak Bai district. Ayutthaya had a new cluster of 11 cases at a medical equipment company.
The 15 imported cases were arrivals from India (2 Thai returnees), Kuwait, (1), China (1), Portugal (1), the United States (1), Japan (2), Cambodia (3), Myanmar (3) and Malaysia (1).
As of Tuesday, 49,777 Covid-19 cases were at hospitals including 1,247 critically ill people and 381 dependent on ventilators.
Global Covid-19 cases rose by 447,201 in 24 hours to 171.93 million. The worldwide death toll went up by 10,344 to 3.57 million. The US had the most cases at 34.14 million, up 12,976, and the most deaths at 610,436, up 287. India was second with 28.31 million cases, up 133,228, and 335,114 deaths, up 3,205.
