Thailand logged 209 more Covid-19 fatalities and 21,882 new cases over the previous 24 hours, the Public Health Ministry reported on Sunday morning.
On Saturday, 21,106 Covid-19 patients were discharged from hospitals.
The Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) said Bangkok registered 83 fatalities, two of whom died at home, while the five neighbouring provinces of Samut Sakhon, Nonthaburi, Samut Prakan Nakhon Pathom and Pathum Thani logged a combined 58 deaths.
The other deaths were distributed around 27 provinces, including one victim who died at home in Uthai Thani.
The new caseload comprised 21,637 in the general population and 245 among prison inmates.
The number of new local transmissions has dropped slightly over each of the last three days – from the 23,409 reported on Friday to 22,083 on Saturday and 21,876 on Sunday.
The decline took place in Greater Bangkok, while the new caseloads in 71 other provinces remained high, according to CCSA data.
Bangkok accounted for 4,215 new infections, down from 5,088 on Saturday but still the hardest-hit province during the current surge. Samut Sakhon came second with 1,851 cases followed by 1,523 cases in Samut Prakan and 1,457 cases in Chon Buri.
The six imported infections were two each from Taiwan and Malaysia and one each from the United Arab Emirates and Myanmar.
On Monday, Prime Minister Prayut Cha-o-cha will hold a CCSA meeting to evaluate the situation and decide whether the government can ease restrictions on some businesses.
The Thai Retailer Association called for some essential businesses such as general stores, IT shops and bank branches in shopping malls to be allowed to operate in 29 provinces placed under lockdown for at least two weeks since Aug 3.
The meeting is unlikely to lift most restrictions as the Royal Gazette issued on Aug 1 set the lockdown period until the end of this month but allowed authorities to assess the situation mid-month.
Since April 1, around when the third wave of Covid-19 began, there have been 878,294 Covid-19 patients, 661,236 of whom have recovered.
Since the pandemic started early last year, there have been 907,157 Covid-19 cases, 688,881 of whom recovered.
The death toll was at 7,457 in the third wave and 7,551 from the beginning of the pandemic early last year.
The high of daily Covid-19 cases was at 23,418 reported on Tuesday and the record high of new daily fatalities was at 235 reported on Friday.
