There were 19 more Covid-19 fatalities and 7,681 new cases registered during the previous 24 hours, the Public Health Ministry said on Wednesday morning.
This compared with 12 coronavirus-related fatalities and 7,133 new cases reported on Tuesday morning.
The kingdom's 24-hour high of Covid-19 fatalities was 312 recorded on Aug 13. The highest number of cases was 23,418 on Aug 18.
Sumanee Wacharasin, hazards communication director of the Department of Disease Control, said in the afternoon briefing that the latest 19 fatalities were aged 19 to 92 years, 89% were elderly and had chronic diseases and 79% were either unvaccinated or inadequately vaccinated against Covid-19.
Bangkok logged three new deaths while other central plain provinces recorded three more – in Phetchaburi (1), Prachin Buri (1) and Rayong (1).
The Northeast had seven new fatalities - in Nakhon Ratchasima (2), Roi Et (2), Chaiyaphum (1), Buri Ram (1) and Si Sa Ket (1).
The South reported three more deaths - in Songkhla (2) and Trang (1).
The North saw three fatalities - in Chiang Rai (2) and Phitsanulok (1).
The 7,681 new cases comprised 7,669 cases in the general population, 12 among prison inmates and 277 imported cases. Of the local Covid-19 infections, 7,282 were confirmed at hospitals and 110 via mass testing.
“Since Monday the number of new cases in the country is stable and seems to decline slowly, possibly thanks to measures to delay and control outbreaks… This is the trend of Covid-19 to become endemic… However, people must continue to seriously protect themselves from infection,” Dr Sumanee said.
Bangkok had the most new cases at 892, followed by 873 in Chon Buri, 523 in Samut Prakan, 488 in Phuket, 277 in Khon Kaen, 269 in Ubon Ratchathani, 251 in Nonthaburi, 194 in Chiang Mai, 167 in Si Sa Ket and 166 in Buri Ram.
“New cases in Bangkok nearly doubled from yesterday (593 cases) because more people returned from other provinces to work. Common risks were people taking off face masks while eating and drinking together for a long period after work,” Dr Sumanee said on Wednesday.
She also said that officials were concerned about the increase in new cases in eight tourism pilot provinces, including Nonthaburi and Pathum Thani where new cases were in double digits 3-4 days ago and now in triple-digits.
Most new Covid-19 clusters still came from entertainment places now reopening as eateries. This included 26 cases each in Ubon Ratchathani and Chiang Mai, 22 in Nan, six each in Udon Thani and Khon Kaen and three each in Phayao and Si Sa Ket, she said.
On Tuesday 66,286 people received Covid-19 treatment at hospitals (up from 61,974 the previous day), including 480 seriously ill patients with lung inflammation (down from 492) and 108 dependent on ventilators (down from 110).
On Tuesday, 3,350 Covid-19 patients were discharged from hospitals after recovering from the coronavirus.
Since the pandemic started early last year, there have been 2,292,290 Covid-19 cases including 68,855 cases this year, with 2,204,135 complete recoveries so far.
The death toll stood at 21,869 since the beginning of the pandemic including 171 this year.
Globally, Covid-19 cases rose by 2.77 million in 24 hours (up from 2.10 million the previous day) to 314.09 million. The worldwide death toll rose by 7,847 (up from 4,608) to 5.52 million. The United States had the most cases at 63.39 million, up 672,872, and the most deaths at 863,896, up 2,173.
New infections were rising in European countries including France, the United Kingdom, Italy, Germany and Spain but new fatalities tended to fall, Dr Sumanee said.