Thailand logged 47 new Covid-19 fatalities and 8,859 new cases during the previous 24 hours, the Public Health Ministry announced on Sunday morning.
On Saturday, 8,253 Covid-19 patients were discharged from hospitals after recovering from the coronavirus.
Samut Prakan and Chon Buri overtook Bangkok as the provinces with the most fatalities at six and five, respectively, while the capital registered only three, according to data of the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) released on Sunday afternoon. Deaths were also reported in 21 other provinces across the country, it added.
The Covid-19 task force highlighted its concerns over the four southern border provinces of Narathiwat, Pattani, Songkhla and Yala as their number of new infections at 1,809 cases outnumbered the 1,278 cases detected in Bangkok and its immediate neighbouring provinces.
Deputy Defence Minister Gen Chaicharn Changmongkol was concerned about an influx of illegal migrants on the borders with Myanmar and Cambodia as they could create new coronavirus clusters in the country, Defence Ministry spokesman Gen Kongcheep Tantravanich said on Sunday.
Chiang Mai, Tak and Kanchanaburi on the western front and Chanthaburi on the eastern front were identified as the areas where security authorities were stepping up measures to stem illegal crossings, the spokesman added.
Officials have said demand for labour for jobs shunned by Thai workers when the country reopens on Monday could be fed by traffickers bringing illegal workers into the country.
Phisut Sae-Khu, president of the Thai Hotels Association’s eastern chapter based in Pattaya, said on Wednesday dishwashing and cleaning were examples of the jobs that could not attract Thai workers. Hotels in the resort city fought for legally registered alien labourers with higher wages as they were preparing for the reopening, he said.
The country logged 13 new infections from overseas on Sunday, including five from Myanmar and two from Cambodia, according to the CCSA.
On Saturday, 100,691 people received Covid-19 treatment at hospitals, including 2,225 seriously ill patients and 500 dependent on ventilators.
Since April 1, when the third wave of Covid-19 began, Thailand has treated 1,883,161 Covid-19 patients, 1,764,702 of whom have recovered to date.
Since the pandemic started early last year, there have been 1,912,024 Covid-19 cases, with 1,792,128 complete recoveries so far.
The death toll stood at 19,111 during the third wave and 19,205 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.
