The government on Wednesday reported 15 new deaths related to Covid-19, raising the toll to 178, and 2,012 new infections for a total of 61,699 cases.
Apisamai Srirangson, a spokeswoman for the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration, said the 15 new deaths were 11 men and four women, aged 35-88. Nine of them were in Bangkok, two each in Chiang Mai and Samut Prakan provinces and one each in Chon Buri and Ranong.
Nine had hypertension and diabetes. Others had heart disease, high cholesterol, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma, kidney disease, thyroid disorder, obesity or Alzheimer's.
Ten deaths were from contact with infected family members, two from colleagues, one had visited an entertainment place, another was close to a previously infected neighbour and another had an infected close friend at a fitness club, Dr Apisamai said.
Nine cases had died in 7-15 days after their infection had been confirmed, two died before knowing the results of their Covid-19 tests, and two died on the same day the results were known.
Of the 2,012 new cases in the previous 24 hours, 2,001 were local infections and 11 were imported. Of the local infections, 1,893 were confirmed at hospitals and 108 through mass testing.
Bangkok logged 830 new cases, Samut Prakan 161, Chon Buri 108, Nonthaburi 71, Samut Sakhon 59 and Pathum Thani 57.
Dr Apisamai said the daily number of severely ill cases in Bangkok was rising, up from 109 on April 21 to 255 on Tuesday, and the number of patients dependent on ventilators was also increasing, from 42 on April 21 to 104 on Tuesday.
Patients with mild symptoms were being asked to move to field hospitals or hospitels, so hospitals could reserve beds for critically ill people, she said.
The 11 imported cases over the past 24 hours were quarantined arrivals from India, the United Arab Emirates, Czech Republic, Qatar and China.
Of the 61,699 total cases, 34,402 (55%) had recovered, including 851 discharged over the previous 24 hours, and 27,119 were at hospitals, of which 695 were in critical condition and 199 dependent on ventilators.
During the third wave of Covid-19, this month, there were so far 32,836 cases and 84 deaths, Dr Apisamai said.
Global Covid-19 cases rose by 830,822 in 24 hours to 149.33 million. The worldwide death toll went up by 14,821 to 3.15 million.
India reported 362,902 new cases, raising its total to 17.99 million, and 3,285 new deaths for a toll of 201,165. It ranked second in the world by the number of total cases.
First was the United States which had 32.93 million cases, up 52,046, and the most deaths at 587,384, up 885.
