Thailand logged 10,111 new Covid-19 cases and 63 new fatalities during the previous 24 hours, the Public Health Ministry announced on Monday morning.
There were 10,070 cases in the general population, 41 among prison inmates and 24 among new arrivals.
On Sunday, 10,612 Covid-19 patients were discharged from hospitals after recovering from the coronavirus.
The Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) said on Monday afternoon that the situation in the southern border region remained a concern for the government.
Narathiwat, Pattani, Songkhla and Yala registered a combined 2,303 new transmissions compared to 1,610 new cases registered in Greater Bangkok, according to CCSA data.
Yala logged the most new cases in the southernmost region -- 756 -- followed by Songkhla (579), Pattani (502) and Narathiwat (466).
The government's dismay over the spread in the deep South was reflected in a move to create a special Covid-19 task force to tackle the pandemic in the four provinces.
New task force
The decision to set up the temporary unit was announced in the Royal Gazette on Sunday and took effect on Monday.
Former National Security Council (NSC) secretary-general Gen Natthapol Nakpanich is to lead the southern operation, with officials from the Public Health Ministry sent to aid him.
NSC chief Gen Supoj Malaniyom, who succeeded Gen Natthapol from Oct 1, said on Monday the work of the newly established unit would not duplicate the work of the CCSA as it had a clear goal to bring down new cases and fatalities in the four provinces.
The country also received 24 new cases from abroad, including 12 from Myanmar, three each from Cambodia and Malaysia, two each from the United States and Ukraine and one each from Germany and Pakistan.
More than 107,000 hospitalised
On Sunday, 107,226 people received Covid-19 treatment at hospitals, including 2,813 seriously ill patients and 644 dependent on ventilators.
Since April 1, when the third wave of Covid-19 began, Thailand has treated 1,764,949 Covid-19 patients, 1,640,824 of whom have recovered to date.
Since the pandemic started early last year, there have been 1,793,812 Covid-19 cases, with 1,668,250 complete recoveries so far.
The death toll stood at 18,242 during the third wave and 18,336 since the beginning of the pandemic.
The kingdom’s all-time 24-hour high of Covid-19 fatalities was 312 recorded on Aug 18. The highest number of cases was 23,418 on Aug 13.
Global Covid-19 cases rose by 301,738 in 24 hours to 241,471,559. The worldwide death toll went up by 4,235 to 4,914,092. The United States had the most cases at 45,792,532, up 17,947 and the most deaths at 744,546, up 161.
