A barber volunteer cuts hair for local residents in Bangkok, Thailand, April 23, 2021. Thailand's total COVID-19 cases have surpassed 50,000 as a record of 2,070 new infections were recorded on Friday, according to the Center for COVID-19 Situation Administration (CCSA). The total tally now stands at 50,183, CCSA spokesman Taweesin Visanuyothin said. (Xinhua/Rachen Sageamsak)
BANGKOK, April 23 (Xinhua) -- Thailand's total COVID-19 cases have surpassed 50,000 as a record high of 2,070 new infections were recorded on Friday, according to the Center for COVID-19 Situation Administration (CCSA).
The total tally now stands at 50,183, CCSA spokesman Taweesin Visanuyothin said.
Of the new cases, 2,062 were domestic transmissions, including 740 in the capital Bangkok, the epicenter of the recent outbreak, and eight others were imported cases, Taweesin said.
Four new deaths were also reported, raising the death toll to 121, he added.
The new wave of infections is costing Thailand 100 billion baht (about 3.19 billion U.S. dollars) a month in lost economic activity and reducing demand for labor by about 148,000 people a month, according to Thanawat Polwichai, president of the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce and head of the Economic and Business Forecasting Center.
Thanawat said even if the outbreak could be controlled by June this year, it would take two years for businesses to return to normal and 15 months for provincial economies to normalize in terms of consumption and investment.
The center lowered its forecast for Thailand's economic growth this year to 1.6 percent from previous projection of 2.8 percent as the latest outbreak further weighed on growth.
A total of 30,189 patients have recovered and been released from hospitals as of Friday, while 19,873 others are currently hospitalized.
As of Thursday, 964,825 doses of COVID-19 vaccines had been administered across the country, and roughly 130,000 people had been fully vaccinated. Enditem
