BANGKOK, Aug 9 — Thailand is speeding up the inoculation of individuals aged 60 and above to reduce fatality rate in the kingdom.
Over the last 24 hours, Thailand recorded 19,603 new COVID-19 cases and 149 fatalities, bringing the total infections in the kingdom to 776,108 and 6,353 deaths to date.
Thailand recorded its highest daily COVID-19 death toll of 212 on August 7.
Centre for COVID-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) assistant spokesperson Dr Apisamai Srirangsan said more than 65 per cent of the 149 fatalities reported over the last 24 hours involved those aged 60 and above.
Based on statistics, she said out of the of 2,417 fatalities reported from July 18 to Aug 8, 1,317 involve those aged 60 and above.
“The Public Health Ministry is speeding up the inoculation among senior citizens to reduce severity and fatality rate in them,” she said at COVID-19 daily briefing here today.
She added that the ministry is also stepping up vaccination among those with underlying health conditions and pregnant women.
Yesterday, Department of Disease Control (DDC) Deputy Director-General Dr. Sophon Iamsirsithavorn said the department wanted to vaccinate 70 per cent of the elderly population in Bangkok and provinces under “red dark” zones, in bid to reduce fatality rates by 50 per cent.
To date, he said about 3.67 million senior citizens nationwide have received at least a dose of vaccine.
On vaccination, Dr Apisamai said a total of 20.67 million doses have been administered since February 28.
Meanwhile, Dr Apisamai said the number of new COVID-19 cases in the kingdom reduced slightly to 19,603 compared to 19,983 cases on Aug 8.
She said the the new cases include 313 prisoners, adding that a total of 12 imported cases have been reported including three arrivals from Malaysia.
To date, she said a total of 214,421 patients remain hospitalized including in field hospitals nationwide. The number include 5,218 in critical condition and 1,084 depending on ventilators.
She said the new fatalities involved 84 men and 65 women aged between 4-month to 103 years old, including nine foreigners.
“A total of 26 died at home,” she said.
Source: BERNAMA News Agency