Thailand reports daily record of COVID-19 cases, including jail clusters

Residents of the Huay Kwang community register for nasal swab tests for the Covid-19 coronavirus at a mobile clinic in a sports stadium in Bangkok on May 13, 2021. Photo by Lillian SUWANRUMPHA / AFP

BANGKOK — Thailand reported on Monday a daily record of 9,635 new coronavirus cases, including 6,853 infections among prisoners from jail clusters, as the Southeast Asian country struggles with a third wave of infections.

The combined cases bring the country’s total infections to 111,082.

Thailand’s COVID-19 task force also recorded 25 new deaths, bringing the total number of fatalities to 614 since the pandemic started last year.

Excluding the jail clusters, Monday’s new cases of 2,782 are close to a record high of 2,839 recorded late last month.

Thailand has administered 2.2 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines to frontline workers and high-risk groups so far using imported doses of vaccines developed by China’s Sinovac Biotech and AstraZeneca.

A broader vaccination drive is expected to start in June with locally manufactured AstraZeneca doses. Vaccine registration opened to the public this weekend with a goal of inoculating 70 percent of adults in the country of more than 66 million people.