The country registered 74 more Covid-19 fatalities during the previous 24 hours, a record high in the latest wave but a fraction of the historical peak of 312, the Public Health Ministry announced on Thursday morning.
The 22,984 new cases marked the third consecutive day of rising new infections.
The new figures compared with the 69 coronavirus-related fatalities and 22,073 new cases reported on Wednesday morning.
Only 47 of the 22,984 new cases announced on Thursday were found in arrivals from other countries. The rest were all locally transmitted.
On Wednesday, 24,161 Covid-19 patients were discharged from hospitals after recovering from the coronavirus while 220,334 others were at hospitals (down from 221,585 on the previous day).
Since the pandemic started in early 2020, there have been 3,111,857 Covid-19 cases, including 888,422 this year, with 2,868,011 complete recoveries to date.
The accumulated death toll stood at 23,512 since the beginning of the pandemic, including 1,814 so far this year.
The highest number of Covid-related fatalities in a 24-hour period was 312 recorded on Aug 13, 2021. The highest number of cases was 25,615 on Feb 26.
-- More to following from the afternoon briefing --
