Thailand logged 12 more Covid-19-related fatalities — the fewest since April 29, 2021 — and 3,091 new coronavirus cases during the previous 24 hours, the Public Health Ministry announced on Tuesday morning.
There were 3,089 cases in the general population and two among prison inmates.
On Monday, 2,688 Covid-19 patients were discharged from hospitals after recovering from the coronavirus.
The Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) said in the afternoon that all 12 new fatalities were Thais between the ages of 61 and 98 years old.
Bangkok and the adjacent provinces of Pathum Thani, Samut Sakhon, Samut Prakan, Nakhon Pathom and Nonthaburi had no new deaths.
Kanchanaburi, Buri Ram, Lampang and Pattani registered two fatalities each, while one death was recorded in each of Chachoengsao, Rayong, Nakhon Ratchasima and Satun.
Although the country logged the fewest deaths since April last year, the number of new infections continued to inch back up due to the spread of the Omicron variant.
Chon Buri recorded the most new infections — 499 — ahead of 376 cases in Bangkok
Ubon Ratchathani had 328 new cases, followed by 149 in Phuket, 120 in Samut Prakan, 117 in Chiang Mai, 91 in Khon Kaen, 80 in Nakhon Si Thammarat, 75 in Udon Thani and 63 in Rayong.
The Provincial Public Health Office in Chon Buri said most new cases in the province were detected in Bang Lamung, the district that includes Pattaya. The eastern province logged only 191 new cases on Dec 29 but the figures have spiked since then.
Public health officials in Chon Buri said earlier that factories were the main source of the virus spread in the province.
The CCSA on Tuesday did not provide figures on imported cases.
On Monday 33,505 people received Covid-19 treatment at hospitals, including 555 seriously ill patients and 151 dependent on ventilators.
Since the pandemic started in early 2020, there have been 2,235,576 Covid-19 cases, with 2,180,321 complete recoveries so far.
The death toll stood at 21,750 since the beginning of the pandemic.
The kingdom’s all-time 24-hour high of Covid-19 fatalities was 312 recorded on Aug 18. The highest number of cases was 23,418 on Aug 13.
