The government reported 38 confirmed new coronavirus cases and one additional death in a briefing on Tuesday morning.
The total of confirmed Covid-19 cases in Thailand now stands at 2,258, and the cumulative death toll at 27.
An additional 31 people have recovered from the disease, a number that approachedthe tally of new cases.
The figure of 38 new infections appears to show a declining trend from the 51 cases reported on Monday and the 102 logged on Sunday, but there is no way to know the actual number of cases and how quickly the coronavirus is being transmitted because -- as is the case worldwide -- very few people have been tested.
Screenshot from http://covid19.th-stat.com/en
Dr Taweesilp Visanuyothin, spokesman of the Center for COVID-19 Situation Administration, said at Government House that the latest fatality was a 54-year-old man, with no reported chronic diseases, who partied in Thong Lor area of Bangkok.
On March 13 he began to suffer from exhaustion, and the condition worsened the following day. He was admitted to hospital and put on a ventilator. A lung X-ray showed severe pneumonia and he tested positive for Covid-19.
The man died of failure of the respiratory tract on Monday, Dr Taweesilp said.
The spokesman expressed his relief over the lower number of new confirmed cases -- and attributed it to the new curfew.
“The lower number of daily new cases and the slower increase in accumulated patients apparently resulted from the nationwide curfew starting on April 3,” Dr Taweesilp said.
The new 38 cases included 17 people in close contact with previous patients. Eleven of them were in Bangkok and contracted the disease from family members, colleagues and friends, Dr Taweesilp said.
Seven new patients worked in crowded areas or closely with foreigners: three in Phuket, two in Bangkok and one each in Chon Buri and Krabi provinces.
Other new cases included three health workers, three visitors to crowded places and three Thais who returned from overseas. Five cases were under investigation, Dr Taweesilp said.
The accumulated 2,258 patients are in 66 provinces. Bangkok recorded the highest number -- 1,201 -- followed by 138 in Phuket, 134 in Nonthaburi, 99 in Samut Prakan, 70 in Chon Buri, 54 in Yala, 46 in Pattani, 37 each in Chiang Mai and Songkhra, and 26 in Pathum Thani.
