BANGKOK, May 23 (Xinhua) -- Thailand on Sunday confirmed 3,382 new COVID-19 cases and 17 more fatalities, according to the Center for COVID-19 Situation Administration (CCSA).
Of the new cases, five were imported, 3,377 were local infections, including 460 detected via active testing at prisons, the CCSA said in a report.
The infections raised the country's total caseload to 129,500, with more than 100,000 cases having been reported since the third wave of the outbreak began in early April.
The new fatalities reported Sunday took the death toll to 776, increasing sevenfold in the past seven weeks.
Some 44,189 patients are now under treatment at hospitals, with 1,210 in critical conditions, according to the CCSA.
The country reported one case of coronavirus variant, known as B.1.351, which was first detected in South Africa, Ministry of Foreign Affairs official Pensom Lertsithichai said at the CCSA daily briefing.
The variant, identified in three test samples from a new cluster of infections in Narathiwat province, was detected in a Thai businessman and his close contacts, Pensom said.
She added that the number of new infections in the capital Bangkok and its vicinity, hotspots of the latest outbreak, are still on the rise, while the situation in other provinces is also worsening with several big clusters found in markets and factories.
As of Saturday, the country has administered more than 2.86 million doses of vaccine nationwide. It aimed to inoculate 70 percent of its nearly 70 million population by the end of the year. Enditem
