The government on Tuesday recorded 155 new Covid-19 cases -- 134 local infections, 11 migrants and 10 quarantined arrivals -- raising the accumulated total in Thailand to 6,440. The national death toll rose by one to 61.
Dr Taweesilp Visanuyothin, spokesman for the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration, said 10 of the new cases were recent arrivals from Germany, Vietnam, India, Sweden, the United States, Turkey and Bahrain.
Twelve new cases were linked to the Central Shrimp Market outbreak in Samut Sakhon province and two new cases were linked to the gambling cluster in Rayong province.
Seventeen new cases were people in close contact with previously confirmed cases.
The cases of about 100 people thought to have contracted the virus locally were under investigation. They included 56 people in Rayong and 28 in adjacent Chon Buri province.
"The number of new cases is soaring," Dr Taweesilp said.
The number of provinces recording new Covid cases rose from six during Dec 18-20 to 26 during Dec 21-23, 37 during Dec 24-26 and 45 during Dec 27-29, he said.
Based on health authorities' calculations, without any control measures the number of daily new cases could reach 18,000 by Jan 14, the spokesman said.
Moderate control measures could result in about 8,000 daily new cases and intensified control measures could limit daily new cases to lower than 1,000.
Dr Taweesilp said the country was conducting moderate control measures compared to the intensified control measures implemented earlier this year.
Of the total 6,440 cases in the country, 4,180 (64.97%) have recovered, including four discharged over the past 24 hours, while 2,195 were receiving treatment. The death toll rose by one over the past 24 hours to 61.
Global Covid-19 cases rose by 487,273 in 24 hours to 81.67 million. The worldwide death toll was up by 9,105 to 1.87 million. The US had the most cases at 19.78 million -- up 186,296 -- and the most deaths at 343,182, up 1,966.
Government map showing the distribution of Covid-19 cases in Thailand by province; click for more detail. (Courtesy https://covid19.th-stat.com/en/share/map)
