Covid Fatalities Continue to Rise in Thailand Due to Delta Variant

Thailand record 239 new Covid-19 fatalities yesterday bringing the Kingdoms total covid death count to 7,973 as of Monday August 16th, the country also recorded 20,128 new cases over the past 24 hours, the Public Health Ministry reported.

Thailand recorded 19,856 cases in the general population and 272 among prison inmates and over the past 24 hours, 20,791 Covid-19 patients recovered and were discharged from hospitals.

Since April 1, around when the third wave of Covid-19 began, there have been 919,579 Covid-19 patients, 703,011 of whom have recovered. Since the pandemic started early last year, there have been 948,442 Covid-19 cases, 730,437 of whom recovered.

The death toll was at 7,879 the third wave and 7,973 from the beginning of the pandemic early last year. The previous high of daily Covid-19 fatalities was at 235 on Aug 10 when there were 19,843 new cases.

Bank of Thailand More say money needed to fight covid

Meanwhile, The governor of the Bank of Thailand has called for an additional 1 trillion baht in government spending to counter covid-19, saying the blow to the economy from the pandemic is greater than from the Asian financial crisis in 1997.

The government can fund additional spending by borrowing more, Bank of Thailand Governor Sethaput Suthiwartnarueput said Monday at a briefing in Bangkok. Furthermore even if public debt tops 70% of gross domestic product by 2024, that would be manageable given high domestic liquidity, low borrowing costs and the country’s current-account surplus, he said.

Thailand is reeling under the worst wave of Covid cases yet, forcing Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha to impose near-lockdown measures in large swathes of the country and triggering near-daily protests demanding the government’s ouster. Mr Sethaput’s call for more stimulus comes hours after Thailand’s main economic planning body slashed its economic growth forecast for this year to 0.7%-1.2%, down from 1.5%-2.5% predicted in May.

The baht fell as much as 0.5% against the dollar to trade near a three-year low. The currency has lost 10.4% this year, the worst performer among major currencies in Asia.