The government on Friday confirmed that a doctor who treated patients infected with Covid-19 had himself caught the disease and died, raising the death toll to 83.
The total number of infections since the pandemic hit the country had risen to 25,241, Covid-19 Situation Administration assistant spokeswoman Apisamai Srirangson said during the daily briefing from Government House.
Dr Panya Hanphanitphan, 66, was the latest death, which was widely reported on Thursday.
He had treated three patients at his clinic in Maha Sarakham province before they were confirmed infected with Covid-19, linked to a banquet in the northeastern province.
He was believed to have been infected between Jan 13 and 28, Dr Apisamai said.
The doctor, who had prostate cancer, learned on Jan 29 that his patients had tested positive for Covid-19. He immediately went for a Covid-19 test, which returned negative.
On Jan 31 he had muscle ache and felt feverish. His second Covid-19 test returned positive on Feb 1. He was admitted to Maha Sarakham Hospital on Feb 2.
On Feb 7 he had lung inflammation and became dependent on a ventilator. His condition deteriorated quickly. He was moved to Srinagarind Hospital in Khon Kaen province and died early on Thursday morning.
"Every loss of medical personnel is a loss for the general public, because they take care of public health," Dr Apisamai said.
Since the second wave began, between Dec 15 and Feb 18, 36 medical workers had caught Covid-19, but Dr Panya was the first of them to die of the disease, she said.
The 130 new cases reported in the previous 24 hours comprised 116 local infections and 14 imported cases. Sixty-one cases were confirmed at hospitals and 55 in communities.
Samut Sakhon province logged 71 cases, or 61% of the daily increment (49 Myanmar and 22 Thais). Bangkok detected seven new cases, all Thais. Pathum Thani reported 22 (12 Myanmar and 10 Thais).
New cases confirmed on Thursday also included two in Nonthaburi, 10 in Nakhon Pathom and four in Ayutthaya.
The 14 imported cases were quarantined arrivals from Germany (2), the United Arab Emirates (3), the United States (1), Myanmar (2), Italy (1), Kuwait (1), Denmark (3) and Cameroon (1).
Of the 25,241 total cases, 24,070 (95.3%) had recovered, including 124 discharged over the previous 24 hours) and 1,088 were at hospitals, including 19 people who were seriously ill.
Global Covid-19 cases rose by 397,806 in the 24 hours to 110.82 million. The worldwide death toll went up by 11,491 to 2.45 million. The US had the most cases at 28.52 million, up 68,924, and the most deaths at 505.309, up 2,761.