File photo: Reuters
Thailand on Tuesday (August 17) reported 20,128 new COVID-19 cases and 239 additional deaths over the past 24 hours.
● 19,856 new infections
● 272 prison / prison infections
● 20,791 recoveries
Tuesday’s cases bring the total number of COVID-19 infections in Thailand to 948,442 with 7,973 deaths. (Total infections since April 1: 919,579)
The news comes as Thailand, a regional manufacturer of AstraZeneca’s coronavirus shots, is seeking to borrow 150,000 doses of the same vaccine from the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, an official said on Monday, amid a Thai supply shortage.
Thailand has been racing to boost its stocks after being hit by its worst wave of coronavirus infections, just two months before it started its mass immunisation drive in June.
The request to tap vaccines from Bhutan, a country of less than 1 million people, reflects efforts to plug gaps in Thailand’s chaotic vaccine rollout, after AstraZeneca said it could supply the country with about five to six million monthly doses, about half of what the government had targeted.
(Source: – Asean Now)