There were 117 new Covid-19 fatalities and 17,345 new cases over the past 24 hours, the Public Health Ministry reported on Friday morning.
There were 16,664 cases in the general population and 681 among prison inmates.
Over the past 24 hours, 10,678 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 549,512 Covid-19 patients, 353,744 of whom have recovered.
Since the pandemic started early last year, there have been 578,375 Covid-19 cases, 381,170 of whom recovered.
The death toll was at 4,585 in the third wave and 4,679 from the beginning of the pandemic early last year.
Taweesilp Visanuyothin, spokesman for the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration, said in the afternoon briefing that with the number of new cases soaring daily, patients outnumbered hospital beds.
He said that 117 fatalities were aged 33-92 years, 112 were Thais and five from Myanmar.
Nine people died at home, eight in Bangkok and one in Pathum Thani. Sixty-six had suffered from hypertension, 44 either lived in or visited outbreak areas, 35 contracted the disease from colleagues or minders and 16 from other family members.
Fifty-five of the deaths were in Bangkok, nine in Samut Prakan, eight in Samut Sakhon, seven in Narathiwat, six in Pathum Thani, four each in Nakhon Pathom and Pattani, two each in Kalasin, Sukhothai, Nakhon Sawan and Tak, and one each in Songkhla, Trang, Ranong, Roi Et, Nakhon Phanom, Udon Thani, Sakon Nakhon, Kamphaeng Phet, Phitsanulok, Chachoengsao, Chon Buri, Trat, Prachuab Khiri Khan, Prachin Buri, Saraburi and Ayutthaya.
The 17,345 new cases over the previous 24 hours included 16,656 local infections and eight imported cases. Of the local infections, 12,823 were confirmed at hospitals and 3,833 via mass testing, Dr Taweesilp said.
Bangkok logged 3,231 new cases while there were 1,386 new cases in Samut Prakan, 1,186 in Samut Sakhon, 914 in Chon Buri, 587 in Nonthaburi, 479 in Chachoengsao, 378 in Nakhon Pathom, 350 in Ubon Ratchathani, 330 in Pathum Thani and 324 in Songkhla.
"Most infections in northern, northeastern and central plains provinces were workers who returned to home provinces, while most cases in the South were local infections,” Dr Taweesilp said.
Pathum Thani had a new cluster of 25 cases at a tyre company in Khlong Luang district. Chon Buri had a new cluster of 15 cases at an air-conditioner factory in Muang district. Songkhla had a new cluster of 13 cases at a ceramic moulding company in Sadao district.
Samut Prakan had a new cluster of 10 cases at an electricity transmission company in Muang district. Samut Sakhon had two new clusters – 14 cases at a tyre company and 13 cases at a fish product company in Muang district.
The eight imported cases were from Qatar (1), the United Kingdom (1), Spain (1), Cambodia (2) and Malaysia (3 illegal returnees).
The infected visitor from Qatar is a 34-year-old Philippine woman who arrived in Phuket on July 17. The visitor from the UK is a 44-year-old British man and from Spain a 34-year-old German man. They arrived on Koh Samui on July 25. The visitors under the initial country reopening project were asymptomatic.
On Thursday, 192,526 people were receiving treatment for Covid-19 at hospitals - 4,595 of them seriously ill and 1,012 dependent on ventilators, Dr Taweesilp said.
Global Covid-19 cases rose by 661,194 in 24 hours to 197.36 million. The worldwide death toll went up by 10,379 to 4.21 million. The United States had the most cases at 35.58 million, up 92,485. India was second with 31.57 million accumulated cases, up 44,673.