There were 72 Covid-19 fatalities and 9,276 new cases over the past 24 hours, the Public Health Ministry reported on Friday. Thirty-nine of the deaths were in Bangkok and the average age was 66 years.
There were 8,998 cases in the general population and 278 among prison inmates.
Since the pandemic started early last year, there have been 2,534 fatalities and 317,506 cases of infection, 240,077 of whom had already recovered.
The country had a record high of 75 new Covid-19 fatalities on Wednesday.
The death toll was at 2,440 in the third wave and 2,534 from the beginning of the pandemic early last year, the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration said in its afternoon briefing.
The 72 new fatalities were aged 27-91 years, with an average age of 66. Forty were men and 32 women.
Thirty-two of the latest fatalities had hypertension, 26 had diabetes and 15 caught the virus from other family members. Twenty-two either lived in or visited outbreak areas.
Bangkok logged 39 new fatalities, and there were seven in Nakhon Pathom, six in Pattani, three each in Yala and Kanchanaburi, two each in Phetchaburi and Samut Sakhon and one each in Chiang Rai, Phetchaburi, Suphan Buri, Roi Et, Prachuap Khiri Khan, Phitsanulok, Songkhla, Sa Kaeo, Pathum Thani and Udon Thani.
The 9,276 new Covid-19 cases comprised 8,975 local infections, 23 imported cases and 278 in prisons. Bangkok recorded 3,116 cases, followed by 544 in Samut Sakhon, 437 in Samut Prakan, 341 in Lop Buri, 317 in Chon Buri, 265 in Ayutthaya, 243 in Chachoengsao, 236 in Nonthaburi, 214 in Pattani and 211 in Nakhon Pathom.
The 23 imported cases were from Singapore (1), Bangladesh (1), the United Kingdom, (2), Myanmar (2) and Cambodia (17). They were one American, two Myanmar nationals and 20 Thais. The two Myanmar men and one Thai woman crossed the border illegally via natural crossings.
The CCSA spokeswoman said 74,895 people were receiving Covid-19 treatment at hospitals on Thursday. They included 2,685 critically ill patients and 701 dependent on ventilators.
Samut Sakhon had one new cluster at a snack factory in Krathum Baen district with 29 Covid-19 cases, Samut Prakan reported a new cluster at a construction workers’ camp in Bang Phli district and Ayutthaya had a new cluster at a community in front of the factory land in Wang Noi district with 117 cases.
Chachoengsao had a new cluster at a boarding school with 23 cases, Saraburi had a new cluster at a metal parts factory in Nong Khae district with 64 cases and Lampang reported a new cluster at Sueksa Songkhoh School in Muang district with 36 cases, the spokeswoman said.
Globally, Covid-19 cases rose by 468,189 in 24 hours to 186.33 million. The worldwide death toll went up by 8,230 to 4.02 million. The US had the most cases at 34.67 million, up 19,347. Thailand ranked 62nd.