Thailand logged 20 more Covid-19 fatalities and 3,682 new cases yesterday, as the first batch of Sinopharm vaccines arrived in the country.
The Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) reported 11 deaths in Bangkok, three in Nakhon Pathom, two in Samut Prakan and one each in Chanthaburi, Rayong, Saraburi and Ubon Ratchathani. Yesterday's figures took the accumulated tally of fatalities to 1,629.
The country added 3,682 new cases, 3,104 of them in the general population and 578 among prison inmates, bringing the total since the start of the pandemic to 281,131 infections, according to the CCSA.
Bangkok registered 836 new cases with Samut Prakan next, logging 501, according to the centre.
The country recorded 40 imported infections, including 31 from Cambodia of which 21 were caught illegally crossing the border.
Six Thais returning from Indonesia (3), India (2) and Myanmar also tested positive along with three foreign arrivals, including one Japanese, one South Korean and one Afghan.
Meanwhile, the Yala Provincial Public Health Office yesterday reported 59 cases: 27 in Muang, 15 in Krong Pinang and 12 in Bannang Sata districts.
Among the latest infections were students from two Al-Quran learning centres in Yala's Muang district, although no exact number was given.
The provincial public health office is working with directors of the two learning centres to trace any contact the pair may have had with people in the province as well the learning centres themselves, said Suchat Ananta, deputy chief of the Yala public health office.
Meanwhile, the Chulabhorn Royal Academy said in a Facebook message the first million doses of Sinopharm vaccines reached Thailand on two Thai Airways International flights from Beijing yesterday.
They were transferred in 12 temperature-controlled trucks to the Medical Sciences Department for quality checks before being handed them over to the academy.
The institution purchased the vaccines as an alternative to free jabs serviced by the government.
The academy said earlier that the vaccines would be distributed to hospitals and medical facilities nationwide on Wednesday and Thursday, with the shots themselves to be administered on Friday.