836 new Covid-19 patients and two deaths, as Thailand crosses 20,000 cases
The Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) on Tuesday reported 836 new cases and two deaths.
Of the total cases, 17 were overseas travellers in quarantine facilities.
Of the new cases, 109 had been exposed to the virus while visiting high-risk areas, with Samut Sakhon province topping the list with 99 cases. One of the patients is a 26-day-old baby, one of the youngest so far, followed by seven in Bangkok and two in Samut Songkhram.
Meanwhile, proactive testing led to the discovery of 710 cases, with 688 found in Samut Sakhon and 22 in Bangkok.
Of the overseas travellers, 10 were Thais returning from Switzerland, Nigeria, the United States, Canada and Malaysia. A Swede travelled from Denmark, while a Canadian, two French, two Swiss and an Indian flew in from their respective nations.
Dr Taweesin Visanuyothin, the spokesperson of CCSA, said there were two more fatalities, taking the death toll to 79.
A Thai woman with high blood pressure and hyperlipidemia, 75, residing in Samut Sakhon, developed symptoms on January 25 after contact with her infected husband. She had only slight symptoms initially. She was confirmed positive on January 28 when she started to develop fatigue and difficulty in breathing. She passed away at Samut Sakhon Hospital on January 30.
A Thai man, 68, with diabetes and last stage kidney disease visited a karaoke booth in Samut Sakhon province. He had cough, runny nose and muscle ache on December 30 and was confirmed positive on January 7. After a long fight for a month, he passed away on February 1.
Meanwhile, 703 patients have recovered and been discharged.
As of Tuesday, the number of confirmed cases in Thailand has risen to 20,454. Of these, 17,974 contracted the virus locally, including 10,088 who were found via proactive testing, while 2,480 are returnees. So far, 13,217 have recovered and been discharged, 7,158 patients are still in hospital and the death toll has risen to 79.
According to Worldometer, as of 10am on Tuesday, the number of confirmed cases globally had risen to 103.92 million (up by 392,565), 75.71 million have recovered, 25.94 million are active cases (107,956 in severe condition) and 2.25 million have died (up by 9,210).
Thailand ranks 115th on the global list of most cases. The US tops the list with 26.91 million, followed by India 10.77 million, Brazil 9.23 million, Russia 3.86 million and the United Kingdom 3.83 million.