Thailand’s virus tally nears 2,900 as it ramps up testing in the south

Locals affected by the night curfew measure wait in line to receive a free meal in the Klong Toey slum. (AP pic)

BANGKOK: Thailand has reported 15 new Covid-19 cases and no fatalities overnight, bringing the tally to 2,854 cases and 50 deaths.

Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) spokesman Thaweesilp Wissanuyothin said a total of 2,490 patients have recovered and discharged from hospitals while 314 remain in hospitals.

He said 10 out of 77 provinces in the kingdom have not reported new Covid -19 cases in the last 28 days.

“We still have an active cluster of infection in Chonburi, Phuket, Pattani, Yala and Chumpon province and each cluster involves around five to 51 infected persons,” he said at the daily Covid -19 briefing today.

He added that four of 15 new Covid -19 cases reported in the last 24 hours were from Yala, southern Thailand where the authorities are aggressively testing the population.

Thaweesilp said the health authorities are also intensifying laboratory testing.

At present, he said there are 123 laboratories nationwide involving public and private hospitals for Covid-19 testing with 10,000 samples in Bangkok and another 10,000 samples in other provinces.

Thaweesilp said since the government imposed a curfew from 10pm to 4am on April 3, a total of 12,830 people had violated a restriction order including 10,858 found leaving their residence during curfew hours and 1,972 gathered in large groups.

“The largest group is aged between 19 and 30 years old, he said.

Meanwhile, Thaweesilp said a total of 2,589 Thais had returned home since the reopening of land borders in the kingdom, most of them entering through the southern border checkpoints.

“We are expecting more than 2,500 Thais travelling home via land border checkpoints starting tomorrow until April 30,” he said.

On repatriation efforts of Thais abroad, he said about 1,382 Thais are scheduled to return home by air during the same period. - FMT