Thailand announced on Sunday to extend tighter pandemic control measures in the capital Bangkok and other worst-hit regions possibly till the end of August to contain the worst-ever wave of the outbreak, which has brought its total case tally to the top 600,000.
The Southeast Asian country reported 18,027 new cases during the last 24 hours, the second-highest daily tally since the pandemic began, taking the total number of infections to 615,314, according to the Center for COVID-19 Situation Administration (CCSA), the country's COVID-19 task force.
The cumulative fatalities have risen to 4,990, up by 133, according to the CCSA.
Restrictive measures, including travel curbs, shopping mall closures and night-time curfews, will be expanded to 29 provincial regions from 13, which had been put under such partial lockdown measures due to end on Monday, according to Natapanu Nopakun, an official at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Restaurants in shopping malls will be allowed to open, but only for take-away services, Natapanu said at a CCSA news briefing.
The restrictions will take effect from Tuesday and the authorities will evaluate the situation in the following two weeks, but "possibly this will be extended until the end of August," he said.
As of Saturday, the country has administered more than 17.6 million doses of vaccine, with more than 3.8 million of its nearly 70 million population having been fully vaccinated, according to the CCSA.
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