Monday Covid Update: 3,355 new cases, provincial totals

The Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration recorded 3,355 new Covid-19 cases today and 17 coronavirus-related fatalities, raising the total case count since the start of the pandemic last year to 199,264 confirmed infections and the virus-related death toll to 1,466. Thailand now has 39,854 active cases, a downward trend over the past week.

The recent and most severe wave of Covid-19 in Thailand, first recorded on April 1 in Bangkok nightlife districts, has spread to at least a dozen of the country’s overcrowded prisons, infecting more than 30,000 inmates. Out of the new cases recorded today, 784 were found in correctional facilities.

Bangkok remains the epicentre of infections with 925 cases recorded today. Out of the 17 fatalities, most were in Bangkok. Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Natapanu Nopakun, who gives the daily CCSA report in English, says officials are closely monitoring 84 Covid-19 clusters in Bangkok.

Cases are also high in surrounding provinces. In Nakhon Pathom, just west of Bangkok, 292 cases were recorded. Natapanu says there was an outbreak at a pork factory in the province, adding that officials plan to accelerate the rollout of vaccines among factory workers in the region to prevent a slowdown in the industrial sector.

In other provinces surrounding the capital, 232 cases were recorded today in Nonthaburi, 196 in Samut Prakan, 158 in Samut Sakhon and 83 in Pathum Thani.

While cases remain high in Bangkok, Natapanu says many residents have been vaccinated against the coronavirus, allowing officials to loosen disease control measures. Today, a number of venues and business can reopen including museums, historical sites, public parks, botanical gardens, beauty clinics, nail salons, tattoo studios and massage parlours for foot massages.

Vaccine update… 

So far, 6.1 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine have been administered. Natapanu says vaccinations are on track with the government’s mass immunisation plan. There was a slight postponement for some vaccinations due to a “slight technical difficulty causing the demand to overtake the supply temporarily.”

In Phuket, approximately 60.6% have received their first shots of the 2-dose Covid-19 vaccine. The island province is accerelating the rollout of vaccines in an effort to fully vaccine 70% of the population, reaching herd immunity, by the end of the month to reopen under the so-called “Sandbox” travel model.