A male inmate has died of COVID-19 in Chiang Mai province as the Corrections Department confirmed 1,429 more inmates contracted the disease over the past 24 hours.
Dr Weerakit Hanpariphan, deputy director-general of the department, said on Tuesday that the late 52-year-old inmate was at the Chiang Mai Central Prison. He had been diagnosed with COVID-19 on 8th May and received medical treatment since then.
Last Friday, the inmate was sent to Nakornping Hospital but his conditions did not improve.
He had suffered from diabetes, hypertension, renal failure and high cholesterol. Staff had taken good care of the prisoner and he had been given antiviral medicines and put on a ventilator. The prisoner died at 5am on Tuesday, Dr Hanpariphan said.
The deputy director-general of the Corrections Department also said that the 1,429 new COVID-19 cases were reported at 13 prisons over the past 24 hours, bringing the total COVID-19 cases behind bars to 15,914.
So far, 881 infected inmates recovered, Dr Hanpariphan said.
