Covid-19 has spread to the manufacturing sector at a worrying rate of 13 infected factories a day, with the food and electronics industries at the top of the caseload table, according to the Industry Ministry.
The numbers were based on the latest survey of 749 factories in 62 provinces between April 1 and Aug 17. The ministry found new infections in 13 factories and some 800 workers a day, making up 4% of total daily infections in Thailand.
"We identified a total of 53,135 infected workers during the survey," said Decha Chatutananant, inspector-general for the ministry and chairman of the Crisis Management Centre.
The top five industries where infections were reported are food (136 factories), followed by electronics (103), metal (65), garments (64) and plastics (57).
In Phetchaburi province 4,597 workers contracted the virus, followed by 3,648 workers in Chachoengsao, 3,647 workers in Saraburi, 3,571 workers in Samut Sakhon and 3,487 workers in Phetchabun.
The ministry did not consider the infections to be new clusters because the number of Covid-19 cases was lower than 100 in many factories.
Factory operators and state officials are working together to contain the spread of the virus through the Thai Stop Covid scheme, which assesses hygienic standards at factories.
Those with acceptable standards are given e-certificates.
Up to 20,032 factories, or 31% of 64,038 factories registered with the ministry, have joined the scheme.
"We found 66%, or 13,235 factories, passed the criteria, while 34%, or 6,797 factories, failed the assessment," said Mr Decha.
"The latter needs to improve their hygienic standards."
He suggested some factories adopt bubble-and-seal measures to better protect workers against disease transmission.
