A pedestrian walks on a skywalk in Bangkok, Thailand, on March 5, 2022. Total COVID-19 cases in Thailand topped 3 million on Saturday, driven primarily by the highly transmissible Omicron variant, which resulted in recent soaring infections. (Xinhua/Wang Teng)
BANGKOK, March 5 (Xinhua) -- Total COVID-19 cases in Thailand topped 3 million on Saturday, driven primarily by the highly transmissible Omicron variant, which resulted in recent soaring infections.
The daily case tally has been over 20,000 for 11 days in a row. With 22,818 new infections registered over the last 24 hours, Thailand's total tally stood at 3,004,814, according to the country's health ministry.
Reaching a record high of new infections for three consecutive days in late February, the spreading of the Omicron variant in Thailand seemed faster than it was during the peak of last fall's Delta wave.
However, the country hasn't yet seen a similarly steep rise in cases as seen in some other countries, partly because of the high vaccination rate nationwide, according to the World Health Organization Thailand office.
The official data also showed that the daily death toll remained low compared to the record of 312 fatalities set last August. The cumulative death in the Southeast Asian country rose by 52 to 23,176 on Saturday.
To date, around 71.7 percent of the country's nearly 70 million population had been fully vaccinated, while 30.1 percent had received booster shots. ■
A pedestrian walks on a skywalk in Bangkok, Thailand, on March 5, 2022. Total COVID-19 cases in Thailand topped 3 million on Saturday, driven primarily by the highly transmissible Omicron variant, which resulted in recent soaring infections. (Xinhua/Wang Teng)
A pedestrian walks on a street in Bangkok, Thailand, on March 5, 2022. Total COVID-19 cases in Thailand topped 3 million on Saturday, driven primarily by the highly transmissible Omicron variant, which resulted in recent soaring infections. (Xinhua/Wang Teng)
A pedestrian walks past the entrance of a shopping mall in Bangkok, Thailand, on March 5, 2022. Total COVID-19 cases in Thailand topped 3 million on Saturday, driven primarily by the highly transmissible Omicron variant, which resulted in recent soaring infections. (Xinhua/Wang Teng)
Pedestrians walk under decorations of a shopping mall in Bangkok, Thailand, on March 5, 2022. Total COVID-19 cases in Thailand topped 3 million on Saturday, driven primarily by the highly transmissible Omicron variant, which resulted in recent soaring infections. (Xinhua/Wang Teng)