The number of Covid-19 cases in Phuket has been rising over the last week, with more than half of local hospital beds now occupied.

The provincial health chief said that on Wednesday 26 new cases were confirmed with RT-PCR tests and 294 others tested positive for the disease with antigen tests.

Of the positive antigen results, 285 were in Muang district and nine in Kathu district.

The number of Covid-19 cases began to rise in Phuket about six days ago.

There were 277 new cases on Saturday, 291 on Sunday, 180 on Monday, 293 on Tuesday and 320 on Wednesday.

There were 162 local hospital beds, of which 91 or 56% were now occupied.

The number of severely ill cases with lung inflammation was declining but people should still take the need to protect themselves from infection seriously.

Prevention was necessary including wearing of face masks in crowded places and vaccine booster shots, as disease controls would be further relaxed next month, the health chief said.