Monday Covid Update: 5,406 new cases; provincial totals

A significant uptick of 5,406 new Covid-19 cases was recorded today by the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration, just as new restrictions are taking effect in Bangkok and other “dark red” provinces to curb the spread of the virus. Of the 249,853 Covid-19 cases recorded in Thailand since the start of the pandemic last year, the recent and most severe wave over the past 3 months has accounted for 220,990 of those cases.

There are 45,648 active Covid-19 cases in Thailand. Of that number, 1,806 patients are in critical condition including 510 on ventilators. In Bangkok, the epicentre of infections, there have been reports of a limited number of beds available at public hospital intensive care units.

Due to the uptick in cases, PM Prayut Chan-o-cha decided to tighten restrictions in “dark red” zones, prohibiting dine-in services at restaurants, limiting gatherings to no more than 20 people and ordering shopping centres to close by 9pm. Construction camps in the high-risk provinces must also be sealed off as many clusters have been reported at crowded construction camps. The “dark red” provinces include Bangkok, Pathum Thani, Nakhon Pathom, Nonthaburi, Samut Sakhon, Samut Prakan, Yala, Songkhla, Pattani and Narathiwat.

The overall situation is “quite worrying,” according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Department of Information News Division director, Pensom Lertsithichai, who gave the CCSA report in English.

Over the past week, the daily Covid case count has been around 3,000 and 4,000 infections. While an increase of 5,406 new cases was reported today, 9 of those cases were reported in correctional facilities, a significant decline in cases at Thailand’s overcrowded prisons after more than 30,000 inmates at more than a dozen prisons tested positive for the virus. Pensom says the Covid situation at prisons is improving.

Bangkok remains the Covid hotspot with 1,678 new cases reported today. There are 111 clusters under surveillance by public health authorities, Pensom says.

Cases are also still high in provinces surrounding the capital with 395 new cases in Samut Prakan, 295 cases in Samut Sakhon, 222 in Nonthaburi, and 197 in Nakhon Pathom.

Tak, by the Myanmar border, has reported an uptick of 453 cases today while Chon Buri recorded 390 infections today.

The virus has been spreading in Thailand’s Deep South by the Malaysian border with 275 cases reported in Songkhla and 178 in Pattani.

22 more coronavirus-related fatalities were logged today, raising the pandemic’s death toll in Thailand to 1,934. The vast majority of deaths have been since April 1. Many have been patients with underlying health conditions.