NDO/VNA - Thailand’s southern region has become a COVID-19 epicentre, with a surge in the numbers of cases and fatalities.

The Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) said four southern provinces - Yala, Pattani Songkhla, and Narathiwat recorded 2,303 new infections as compared to 1,610 cases logged in the Extended Bangkok Metropolitan Region.

To deal with this situation, the Thai government decided to set up a task force to aid COVID-19 control in the four provinces. Former National Security Council (NSC) secretary-general Gen Natthapol Nakpanich was assigned to lead the southern operation, with officials from the Public Health Ministry sent to aid him.

The Southeast Asian country has taken more than 31.5 million doses of Sinovac since February, starting with two doses for frontline health workers, high-risk groups and residents of the Phuket resort island.

In July, Thailand started administering a combination of Sinovac's vaccine as the first shot and AstraZeneca's vaccine as the second. It is expected that the country will switch to a combination of AstraZeneca and Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines.

On October 18, Thailand reported 10,111 new COVID-19 cases and 63 fatalities, bringing the total infections in the kingdom to 1,793,812, including 18,336 deaths.