There were 10,486 new Covid-19 cases and 94 more fatalities recorded during the previous 24 hours, the Public Health Ministry reported on Friday morning.
There were 10,319 cases in the general population and 167 among prison inmates.
The number of new cases dropped from the 11,276 announced on Thursday, when the country recorded 112 more deaths.
On Thursday, 10,711 Covid-19 patients were discharged from hospitals after recovering from the coronavirus.
Since April 1, when the third wave of Covid-19 began, Thailand has treated 1,733,327 Covid-19 patients, 1,609,035 of whom have recovered to date.
Since the pandemic started early last year, there have been 1,762,190 Covid-19 cases, with 1,636,461 complete recoveries so far.
The death toll stood at 18,029 during the third wave and 18,123 since the beginning of the pandemic.
Apisamai Srirangson, a spokeswoman for the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration, said in the afternoon briefing that the 94 new fatalities aged 27 to 106 years, and included three Myanmar nationals and one Swiss.
One fatality was a 37-year-old pregnant woman in Pattani who suffered from obesity and had not been vaccinated.
Bangkok recorded 10 new deaths and a further 10 were reported in the adjacent provinces of Samut Prakan (5), Nonthaburi (2), Samut Sakhon (2) and Pathum Thani (1).
Other central plain provinces further from the capital recorded 24 more deaths – in Rayong (6), Prachin Buri (4), Saraburi (3), Chon Buri (3), Sa Kaeo (2), Prachuap Khiri Khan (2), Ratchaburi (2), Chachoengsao (1) and Phetchaburi (1).
The Northeast had eight new fatalities – in Khon Kaen (2), Nakhon Ratchasima (2), Kalasin (1), Loei (1), Udon Thani (1) and Mukdahan (1).
The South reported 36 more deaths – in Nakhon Si Thammarat (8), Narathiwat (7), Pattani (7), Songkhla (4), Yala (3), Satun (2), Surat Thani (2), Krabi (1), Chumphon (1) and Ranong (1).
The North saw six new fatalities – in Tak (3), Chiang Mai (1), Kamphaeng Phet (1) and Nakhon Sawan (1).
The 10,486 new cases included 10,277 local infections and 42 imported cases.
Dr Apisamai said that in addition, antigen tests returned positive for 2,192 of 31,781 people who were tested on Thursday. So, the total new cases could be 12,678 over the past 24 hours, Dr Apisamai said.
Of the local infections confirmed through RT-PCR tests, 9,410 were confirmed at hospitals and 867 via mass testing.
Bangkok had 1,054 new cases (down from 1,095 the previous day), followed by 767 in Yala (down from 785), 644 in Pattani (up from 468), 605 in Songkhla (up from 594), 494 in Narathiwat (down from 545), 488 in Nakhon Si Thammarat (down from 500), 434 in Chon Buri (down from 447), 379 in Samut Prakan (down from 381), 299 in Ratchaburi (up from 217) and 233 in Chiang Mai (down from 337).
“Among the ten provinces with the most new daily cases, southern provinces moved upwards and the new caseload in each of them rose from 300-400 a day to, for example, 767 in Yala,” Dr Apisamai said.
The CCSA was also concerned about outbreaks in Chiang Mai, which had the 10th highest daily caseload on Thursday, because the disease was spreading in markets, factories, schools and children’s homes, Dr Apisamai said.
Greater Bangkok reported 1,768 new cases (down from 1,860) and 20 new deaths (down from 27). Four southern border provinces had 2,510 new cases (up from 2,392) and 21 new fatalities (up from 19), while 67 other provinces recorded 5,999 new cases (down from 6,838) and 53 new deaths (down from 65).
“New cases in the southern border provinces formed as much as 25% of the daily total, going against the steady downward direction of new cases in Greater Bangkok, which accounted for 17%… There were as many as 36 new fatalities in southern provinces,” Dr Apisamai said.
“Outbreaks in southern provinces started in small clusters at workers’ camps and factories. Now they are spreading to families and communities, repeating the previous transmission pattern in Greater Bangkok,” she said.
The 52 imported cases were from Estonia (1), Finland (1), Sweden (31), the Philippines (1) and Cambodia (18).
On Thursday 107,606 people received Covid-19 treatment at hospitals (down from 107,925), including 2,897 seriously ill patients (up from 2,890) and 684 dependent on ventilators (up from 675).
Global Covid-19 cases rose by 442,003 in 24 hours (up from 438,969) to 240.38 million. The worldwide death toll went up by 7,421 (down from 7,481) to 4.90 million.
The United States had the most cases at 45.64 million, up 89,680 (down from 99,206), and the most deaths at 741,893, up 1,654 (down from 1,813 on the previous day).
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