COVID-19: Thailand reports record high deaths for second consecutive day

BANGKOK, May 2 -- Thailand reported 21 new COVID-19 fatalities, a record high for the second consecutive day, bringing the death toll in the kingdom to 245 since the pandemic began in January last year.

Over the last 24 hours, Thailand recorded 1, 940 new COVID-19 cases including 10 imported cases, taking the total infections to 68,984 cases.

Centre for COVID-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) assistant spokesperson Dr Apisamai Srirangsan said the new fatalities involved 12 males and nine females aged between 38 and 88 in Bangkok (eight), Chiang Mai (four), Chonburi and Lamphun (two each) and one each in Nakhon Pathom, Nakhon Sawan, Rayong, Tak and Udon Thani.

She said Bangkok also topped the list with the highest number of new cases (539), Nonthaburi (276) and Samut Prakan (145).

She said the highly transmissible UK B.1.1.7 variant has resulted in 40,121 cases and 151 deaths since April 1.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs deputy spokesman Natapanu Nopakun said Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) would step up active case detection under its jurisdiction in the bid to break the COVID-19 chain of transmission.

“BMA will conduct active case detection in five districts starting tomorrow. With early detection, we hope to prevent the spread of COVID- 9 by tracing and isolating close contacts to break the chain of infection,” he said at a COVID-19 daily briefing here today.

On vaccination, Natapanu said Thailand had vaccinated nearly 1.5 million people thus far, mostly frontline medical personnel and high-risk groups with imported Sinovac and AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Public Health said more than 430,000 people have registered for COVID-19 vaccination, which began yesterday. The inoculation is set to start in June for Thai nationals aged 60 and above with priority given to those with chronic diseases.

The ministry aims to vaccinate 16 million people under the first batch of registration.

-- BERNAMA