Wednesday Covid Update: 18,417 new cases; provincial totals

18,417 new Covid-19 cases and 297 coronavirus-related deaths were reported today by the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration. Since the start of the pandemic last year, the CCSA has reported a total of 1,102,368 Covid-19 cases. The latest and most severe wave of the virus in Thailand, first recorded on April 1, has accounted for 1,073,505 of those cases.

10,085 Covid-related deaths have been reported with the start of the pandemic with 9,991 of the fatalities during the latest wave.

The CCSA also reported 21,186 more recoveries over the past 24 hours. There are now 189,268 people being treated for the coronavirus. The number of active cases has been on a steady decline over the past several days. PM Prayut Chan-o-cha said in an earlier statement that with the overall situation improving, disease control measures could be eased in early September. But with the number of deaths still high, the prime minister says the public should still have their guard up.

In Bangkok, 4,139 new cases were reported today. In provinces surrounding the capital, 2,237 new cases were reported in Samut Prakan and 1,132 were in Samut Sakhon. In Chon Buri, 974 new cases were reported today.

Provincial totals from the Thai government’s news bureau…