Thai Health Department Reports Record 13,002 Covid-19 Cases

Thailand’s Public Health Department reported on Wednesday that there were record 13,002 new Covid-19 cases and 108 new deaths over the past 24 hours. There were 11,953 covid-19 cases in the general population and 1,049 among prison inmates.

According to the Health Department over the past 24 hours, 8,248 Covid-19 patients were diagnosed recovered and were discharged from hospitals.

Since April 1, around when the third wave of Covid-19 began, there have been 410,614 Covid-19 patients, 277,030 of whom have recovered. Since the pandemic started early last year, there have been 439,477 Covid-19 cases, 304,456 of whom recovered.

The death toll was at 3,516 in the third wave and 3,610 from the beginning of the pandemic early last year. The previous high of daily Covid-19 cases was at 11,784 on Monday when the country logged 81 new fatalities.

Meanwhile, Thailand’s cabinet on Tuesday extended the state of emergency nationwide for two months, until the end of September, to cope with the local Covid-19 situation.

Deputy government spokeswoman Traisuree Taisaranakul said extension was from Aug 1 to Sept 30, as proposed by the National Security Council. The NSC functions as the operations unit of the government’s Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration.

The extension was necessary to facilitate the swift and integrated implementation of measures to control Covid-19 for the sake of public safety, she said.

The decision was a response to the thousands of new Covid-19 cases being recorded daily in Greater Bangkok, where easily transmissible and drug-resistant Covid-19 variants were spreading and being carried by workers returning to their home provinces, Ms Traisuree said.

The Public Health Ministry was predicting about 10,000 new Covid-19 cases from the Delta Variant and more than 100 fatalities a day, she said.