Thursday Covid Update: Record high of 75 deaths; new infections in all 77 provinces

A record high of 75 Covid-related deaths was reported today by the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration, raising the pandemic’s death toll in Thailand to 2,462. An uptick of 7,058 new Covid-19 infections was recorded today with new cases in all of Thailand’s 77 provinces. The latest and most severe wave of the virus continues to rise due to the spread of the highly transmissible Delta variant.

Since the start of the pandemic last year, the CCSA has reported a total of 308,230. The latest and most severe wave of the virus, first recorded on April 1, accounted for 279,367 of those infections.

Thailand now has 69,619 active Covid-19 cases. Of those receiving medical treatment for the coronavirus, 2,564 patients are in critical condition with 698 on ventilators to treat serious respiratory symptoms.

The spread of the Alpha variant, which is more contagious than the original Covid strain, led to the surge of cases over the past several months, first starting in Bangkok’s Thong Lor and Ekkamai nightlife districts. Now, with the emergence of the Delta variant, which spreads faster than the Alpha, Thai officials are preparing for an uptick in cases.

More restrictions

A meeting is set for tomorrow morning to discuss disease control measures, possibly similar to those imposed back in April 2020, the first wave. Work-from-home orders and travel restrictions could be imposed.

“We would not call it a lockdown, but measures that would be appropriate for the situation now where we have an increasing number of new cases per day.”

Bangkok

Bangkok remains the epicentre of infections with 2,212 new cases. To control the spread of the virus in the capital where the rapid-spreading Delta variant is most prevalent, health officials have come up with methods to contain the spread including…

• Increase active case finding
• Set up new walk-in testing centres
• Establish 20 community isolation centres
• Cooperate with private hospitals to support home isolation
• Vaccinate high-risk groups and construction workers
• Explore new disease control measures

With a shortage of available beds in Bangkok hospitals to treat the growing number of Covid-19 patients, 20 isolation centres are being set up to provide basic care to those with mild symptoms. Those who start to show severe symptoms will be transferred to a hospital, Natapanu says. Those who are asymptomatic now will be able to self-isolate at home.

Other provinces

Infections detected outside of the capital continue to increase. Today, all 77 provinces in Thailand reported new Covid-19 infections, many involving people who had travelled from Bangkok back to their hometowns, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Natapanu Nopakun, who gives the daily CCSA report in English.

“As of today, all of Thailand’s 77 provinces have reported new cases. This is due to the spread of Delta, Delta variant, which has a very high and quick reproduction rate.”

Cases remain high in provinces surrounding the capital with 565 new cases in Samut Prakan, 517 in Samut Sakhon, 229 in Pathum Thani, and 180 in Nonthaburi.

In Chon Buri, 290 new cases were reported today, adding up to a total of 10,573 confirmed infections since April 1. Officials in Pattaya, which is in the province’s Banglamung district, are discussing plans to reopen the tourist destination in September to travellers from overseas who are vaccinated against Covid-19.

Infections are also still high in Thailand’s Deep South region near the Malaysian border with 213 new cases in Songkhla, 175 in Pattani, and 146 in Yala.

Prisons

Out of the new cases, 68 were recorded in correctional facilities. In the recent wave of infections, more than 30,000 inmates at Thailand’s correctional facilities have tested positive for the virus.

Provincial totals by the Thai government’s news bureau…