Thailand reports record daily Covid deaths

Bangkok, July 11 As Thailand is battling its worst-ever wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, the country reported the highest single-day coronavirus deaths since the onset of the health crisis early last year.

Thailand on Saturday reported 91 new fatalities which took the overall Covid death toll to 2,625, Xinhua news agency reported.

The Centre for the Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) also reported 9,326 new confirmed cases, the second highest single-day tally, raising the total number of infections to 326,832.

More than one-third of Saturday's new infections, 3,191 cases, were detected in the capital Bangkok, the epicentre of a months-long resurgence, according to the CCSA.

Daily new infections have been above 5,000 for 10 consecutive days, as the highly contagious Delta variant is spreading fast in the country, where people remained largely unvaccinated.

Till date, less than 5 percent of the country's nearly 70 million people have been fully inoculated, according to the CCSA.

In an effort to curtail the spread of the virus, the Thai government on July 9 announced new curbs in hard-hit regions, including Bangkok and five nearby provinces.

The measures, including a night curfew, a ban on gatherings of more than five people and non-essential travels, as well as closure of shopping malls, will take effect from July 12 and last for at least 14 days.

The government has also asked public transport companies to reduce their services in order to discourage inter-provincial travels, especially from regions with high infection figures.

The Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand has ordered domestic airlines and airport operators to consider cancelling or rescheduling domestic flights scheduled between 9 p.m. and 4 a.m., and rearranging the working hours for their personnel to avoid travels during the night curfew.

In a statement issued by the Thai AirAsia on Saturday, the airline announced suspending all its domestic flights during the July 12-31 period due to the worsening Covid-19 situation in the country.