28,000 new cases a day reported in last week

Who’s next?: A child receives a Covid-19 shot at Central Westgate shopping mall in Nonthaburi yesterday. The service is for 5-11-year-olds and is available in the province from 10am to 3pm every Thursday this month. (Photo: Pattarapong Chatpattarasill)

Severe Covid-19 infections and deaths are on the rise with more than 28,000 new cases of Covid-19 a day observed over the past week, the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) said.

The Ministry of Public Health on Thursday recorded 2,166 new Covid-19 patients, all of whom are in hospital for treatment, and 29 new deaths, CCSA spokesman Dr Taweesilp Visanuyothin said.

Of the 21,377 Covid-19 patients receiving treatment in hospitals now, 905 of them have severe Covid-19, including 476 who require ventilators, he said.

As for the 29 new people who died of the disease, 24 were 60 years old or older, he said.

Dr Taweesilp Visanuyothin gives an update on the Covid-19 situation, at Government House on Thursday. (Screenshot)

Most patients who require a ventilator are those who are elderly or have underlying conditions, he said.

"Most of these patients have not received a proper booster shot of the Covid-19 vaccine," he said, adding people are encouraged to get boosted once every four months.

Ministry figures of positive results for antigen tests recorded on July 24 to July 30 showed a total of 201,554 people contracted the disease during the period, or about 28,793 per day, he said.

Most of the patients who did not show severe symptoms received care at home or isolated themselves, he said.

Dodgy drugs: Deputy Prime Minister and Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul holds a vial of remdesivir, one of 8,000 illegally imported antiviral drugs from India worth about 10 million baht yesterday. (Photo: Chanat Katanyu)

An assessment of the spread of Covid-19 in the past month has also shown that schools are not the primary source of infections as previously thought, Dr Taweesilp said, adding the infection rate at schools is found to only be 5.66% while the family infection rate is 14.93%.

Figures published by the Ministry of Tourism and Sports showed more than 1.7 million travellers arrived in Thailand last month, about 760,000 more than the number of visitors recorded in June, he said.

Random checks conducted on about 70,614 of these Thai and foreign travellers at Suvarnabhumi airport found only 13 people failed to show negative Covid-19 test results, which is considered an impressive rate of compliance to the remaining curbs.

The CCSA is due to convene next on Aug 19 when more changes to the existing Covid-19 restrictions will be discussed, Dr Taweesilp said.