The government on Tuesday recorded 189 new coronavirus cases, including 159 in second wave epicentre Samut Sakhon, for an accumulated total of 23,746 since the pandemic began a year ago.
No new deaths were reported, leaving the toll at 79.
The 189 new cases comprised 123 reported by hospitals, just 56 through active testing and ten imported from abroad.
Taweesilp Visanuyothin, spokesman for the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration, said Samut Sakhon province logged 159 new cases over the past 24 hours -- 88.83% of the new daily caseload. They consisted of 109 confirmed at hospitals (74 Myanmar nationals, 32 Thais, two Cambodians and one of unidentified nationality) and 50 found through active testing in communities (24 Thais, 24 Myanmar and two Lao nationals).
"New cases have dropped noticeably in Samut Sakhon, from 777 on Feb 3 to 159 on Feb 9. However, it remains the main source of infection, especially at wet markets," Dr Taweesilp said.
About 700-800 people were being tested in communities and factories a day. Testing at large factories has been completed and was continuing at small factories, the spokesman said.
Bangkok’s nine new cases were all found at hospitals, comprising six Thais, two Myanmar and one Lao national. Infections in the capital have been found in factories and communities and linked to parties, the spokesman said.
"Overall, new cases are slowing down but we must continue taking precautions," Dr Taweesilp said.
From Sunday to Tuesday, new Covid-19 cases were found in eight of Thailand’s 77 provinces, he said.
The 10 imported cases were from Romania (2), Indonesia (1), the United Arab Emirates (1), France (1), Mexico (1), Japan (2) and Sweden (2).
Of the total 23,476 cases, 14,426 recovered -- including 956 discharged over the past 24 hours -- and 5,064 were receiving treatment. The death toll remained unchanged at 79.
Global Covid-19 cases rose by 319,354 in 24 hours to 107 million. The worldwide death toll went up by 8,190 to 2.34 million. The United States had the most cases at 27.70 million, up 87,031, and the most deaths at 476,405, up 1,489.
The pace of new cases worldwide was slowing down to less than 500,000 a day, Dr Taweesilp said.