There were a record 13,002 new Covid-19 cases, and 108 more fatalities, over the previous 24 hours, the Public Health Ministry reported on Wednesday morning.
There were 11,953 cases in the general population and 1,049 among prison inmates.
Over the past 24 hours, 8,248 Covid-19 patients were diagnosed recovered and were discharged from hospitals.
Since April 1, around when the third wave of Covid-19 began, there have been 410,614 Covid-19 patients, 277,030 have recovered.
Since the pandemic started early last year, there have been 439,477 Covid-19 cases, 304,456 of whom recovered.
The death toll was at 3,516 in the third wave and 3,610 from the beginning of the pandemic early last year.
The previous daily high of Covid-19 cases was 11,784 on Monday, when the country also logged 81 new fatalities.
Apisamai Srirangson, a spokeswoman for the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration, said in the afternoon briefing that the 108 new fatalities were aged 25-96 years and 68% of them were aged 60 years or more.
Of the new fatalities, 106 were Thais, one was Chinese and the other Indian. Fifty-four had hypertension and 44 diabetes, but 14 had no chronic illness. Forty-six either lived in or visited outbreak areas and 30 caught the virus from other family members.
Bangkok had 40 new fatalities while there were 13 in Samut Sakhon, seven in Songkhla, six in Yala, four each in Nakhon Pathom, Pathum Thani and Prachin Buri, three each in Samut Prakan and Nakhon Nayok, two each in Narathiwat, Pattani, Chon Buri, Ayutthaya, Kanchanaburi, Phetchaburi and Roi Et, and one each in Nonthaburi, Sa Kaeo, Khon Kaen, Ubon Ratchathani, Kamphaeng Phet, Nakhon Sawan, Chai Nat, Phitsanulok, Sukhothai and Nakhon Si Thammarat.
The 13,002 new cases included 11,922 local infections and 31 imported cases. Of the local infections, 9,012 were confirmed at hospitals and 2,910 via mass testing. Bangkok logged 2,921 new cases, followed by 932 in Samut Sakhon, 661 in Nonthaburi, 656 in Samut Prakan, 636 in Chon Buri, 374 in Chachoengsao, 350 in Pathum Thani, 305 in Rayong, 282 in Pattani and 235 in Ayutthaya.
Dr Apisamai said the Delta variant of Covid-19 was dominant in Chatuchak, Bang Rak, Chom Thong, Klong Toey and Laksi districts of Bangkok. Meanwhile, Samut Sakhon had a new cluster of 24 cases at a cold storage plant in Muang district.
Samut Prakan had a new cluster of 40 cases at an animal feed plant in Bang Sao Thong district.
Rayong had two new clusters – 92 cases at an electrical appliance factory in Pluak Daeng district and 12 cases at Siri Phiban Pattana market in Klaeng district. The 31 imported cases were from the United Kingdom (2), Singapore (2), Cambodia (5) and Myanmar (22 including 14 illegal Thai returnees and Myanmar migrants).
On Tuesday, 131,411 people were receiving treatment for Covid-19 at hospitals Of these, 3,786 had lung inflammation and 879 of them were dependent on ventilators.
Dr Apisamai said that Covid-19 infected people were returning from their closed workplaces to their home provinces. They carried the virus with them and local hospitals might already have too heavy a caseload to admit them.
She asked infected people not to travel and to remain in their home or in community isolation centres while waiting for hospital admission.
“About 70-80% of Covid-19 cases are asymptomatic. The green-coded patients could get tired during their trip and their condition could worsen,” she said.
Global Covid-19 cases rose by 510,108 in 24 hours to 192.23 million. The worldwide death toll went up by 8,267 to 4.13 million. The United States had the most cases, 35.08 million, up 44,232, and the most deaths at 625,363, up 256.
Thailand ranked 51st globally with accumulated Covid-19 cases at 439,477.
