The number of new Covid-19 cases with mild symptoms is rising in Greater Bangkok and in tourist provinces, and so are cases with lung inflammation, according to the Department of Disease Control.
Chakarat Pitayawong-anon, the director of epidemiology, said on Monday that the number of outpatients in self-isolation registered with the National Health Security Office rose to about 207,000 over the past week (June 26 to July 2), from 191,000 in the previous week.
The number of daily cases with mild symptoms and in home isolation went up from just over 10,000 to 14,000-15,000 a day in the past week.
"It shows that Covid-19 is spreading widely among family members... The number of outpatients increased quite substantially over the past week," Dr Chakarat said.
The increase was centred on Greater Bangkok and tourist provinces. Cases in smaller provinces were falling, Dr Chakarat said.
"In Greater Bangkok and tourist provinces, people should keep wearing face masks when they are in crowded places or using public transport," he said.
New cases might increase over the next 10 weeks, but the number would not initially be as high as during the previous Omicron outbreaks because of vaccination and use of personal protection, he said.
Personal protection was the key to curbing the number of new cases, he said.
Dr Chakarat said the number of Covid-19 patients with lung inflammation started to rise last week. The number of cases admitted to hospital slightly increased. The number of those dependent on ventilators was stable.
Weekly fatalities fell to 106 over the past week, from 161 the previous week.
"All the latest fatalities were elderly people and those with underlying illnesses. About 50% of them were never vaccinated. About 30% had two vaccine shots more than three months ago and two doses are not enough to cope with the Omicron variant. People need third and fourth shots," Dr Chakarat said.
The most common underlying illnesses in the latest deaths were kidney disease, cardiovascular disease and cancer.
Covid-19 patients occupied only 10% of hospital beds prepared for them. "The occupancy rate is very good," the director of epidemiology said.
Dr Chakarat said new Covid-19 infections were rising in America, Europe and Asia. They were increasing in nearby countries like Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Malaysia.
The number of severely ill patients and deaths would not rise significantly due to vaccination and the limited severity of infections, he said.
