Thailand Mourns, COVID-19 Death Toll Reaches Daily Record

JAKARTA - Thailand on Thursday, July 1 reported a daily record 57 deaths from COVID-19, the second day in a row with the highest death toll on record as the Southeast Asian nation struggles to defuse the third wave of COVID-19 that is yet to show signs of slowing.

The report comes the same day Thailand began a program to revive tourism on the island of Phuket, which has far fewer cases than on the mainland after Thailand prioritized vaccination for the population on the resort island.

Under the plan, foreign tourists who have been vaccinated against COVID-19 can pass quarantine requirements and are free to move around the island.

Then after 14 days, unless there is a problem with coronavirus infection, they can travel to other places in Thailand.

Thailand lost about USD 50 billion in tourism revenue last year as foreign tourist arrivals fell 83 percent to 6.7 million people from a record 39.9 million in 2019.

As a result, Phuket was hit hard with job losses and business closures.

The new COVID-19 death toll reported on Thursday brings the total number of deaths from the coronavirus infection in Thailand to 2.080 since the pandemic began last year.

Thailand's COVID-19 task force also reported 5.533 new cases of coronavirus infection, bringing the country's total COVID-19 to 264.834 cases. This was reported by Reuters from Antara.