All provinces have been ordered by the top Interior Ministry official to step up measures to combat the Covid-19 spread in the wake of a continued surge of local cases around the country.
Sutthipong Chucharoen, the permanent secretary for interior affairs, directed all provincial governors in an order on Sunday to raise their guard against the coronavirus.
Officials at all levels — from villages up to provinces — must join forces to closely monitor the situation in their provinces, especially those bordering neighbouring countries, he said in the directive. They need to have contingency plans in case the virus explodes in their provinces.
The order was issued after new transmissions rose for the sixth consecutive day on Sunday.
The country accumulated 360,380 local infections from Jan 1 to Feb 13, or about 8,000 a day. But the number has risen sharply since then, accelerating from the 14,177 announced on Monday to 18,953 in Sunday's bulletin.
Dr Yong Poovorawan, head of the Centre of Excellence in Clinical Virology at Chulalongkorn University, posted a Facebook message on Sunday warning that Omicron cases in Thailand and other Asian countries had not reached their peak, unlike those in Europe and the United States, which are now exhibiting a downward trend.
The expert predicted cases in Thailand could peak between 30,000 and 50,000 per day.
The daily report from the Public Health Ministry, which is referred to by the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration, excludes positive results from ATK tests, which are subject to follow-up testing.
