12 domestic Covid-19 patients among 34 new cases

The 12 new cases were related to a 67-year-old woman in Samut Sakhon province, who tested positive for Covid-19 on December 18 after showing symptoms on December 13. The woman ran a seafood shop in a prawn market.

Of the new cases, three of them were family members of the woman, one was her employee and one was his wife. Other patients were those who had worked at or visited the market earlier or were those who lived in the nearby area.

The 12 patients included six Thai women aged 20, 24, 49, 57, 73 and 95; three Thai men aged 23, 41 and 42; and three Myanmar nationals -- a woman, 43, and two men aged 32 and 40.

The CCSA added that the information on them was not clear this time, since the cases were new, and officials needed time to investigate them.

On Friday evening, Minister of Public Health Anutin Charnvirakul visited the prawn market. He added that His Majesty the King had granted three biosafety vehicles to test local residents around the market, while the ministry had provided 2,500 viral transport medium tubes, 2,500 nasopharyngeal swabs, Rapid Ab test kits, 100 personal protective equipment suits, 200 waterproof gowns, 500 surgical masks, 100 face shields as well as other equipment to officers carrying out the testing.

The 22 cases in quarantine facilities comprised nine Thais and 13 foreigners. Of the Thai returnees, five were females aged 48, 35, 16, 45 and 15, from Kenya, Bahrain, the UK, Netherlands and Saudi Arabia. Four male returnees aged 42,53, 31 and 7 returned from Germany, the UAE, Taiwan and Saudi Arabia, respectively.

The foreigners consisted of a German, 36, two Americans aged 22 and 50, two Britons aged 38 and 57, a Russian, 37, two Bangladeshis, aged 58 and 59, an Indian, 44, and an Italian, 64, from their respective countries. The others were a US national, 36, from the UK, an Argentinian, 44, and a Canadian, 39, from Namibia.

The total number of confirmed cases in Thailand since the outbreak increased to 4,331 (1,324 in state quarantine), 247 are in hospital, 4,024 have recovered and been discharged and 60 have died.

According to Worldometer, as of 10am on Saturday, the total number of confirmed cases since the outbreak increased to 76 million (up 716,606), 53.27 million have recovered, 22.73 million are active cases (106,854 in severe condition) and 1.68 million have died (up 12,341).

Thailand ranks 152nd for most cases in the world, while the US has the most with 17.88 million, followed by India 10 million, Brazil 7.16 million, Russia 2.79 million and France 2.44 million.