BANGKOK (THE NATION/ASIA NEWS NETWORK, REUTERS) - Thailand's Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) reported 369 new cases on Monday (Jan 18), including 12 people who arrived from overseas.

Of the returnees, eight are Thai nationals - one from the United Kingdom, one from Germany, five from Malaysia, and one from Bahrain.

Also testing positive were two American men, a French man and an Omani woman, who flew in from their respective nations.

Of the new cases, 82 were exposed to the virus while visiting high-risk areas. Provinces with the highest number of infections were Bangkok with 12 and Samut Sakhon with 51.

Proactive testing led to 275 cases, mostly in Samut Sakhon, where 269 foreigners tested positive.

Samut Sakhon, a province south of Bangkok, is where the current outbreak began late last year at a seafood market and many people have put the blame on migrant workers from Myanmar - a major source of labour in the seafood industry.

The total number of confirmed cases in Thailand has risen to 12,423 - 10,134 of which were contracted domestically, including 3,982 found via proactive testing and 2,289 returnees.

So far, 9,206 have recovered and been discharged, 3,147 patients are still in hospital and the death toll remains at 70.

According to Worldometer, as of midnight on Sunday, the total number of confirmed cases globally had risen to 95.48 million (up by 532,235), 68.17 million have recovered, 25.27 million are active cases (113,185 in severe condition) and 2.04 million have died (up by 9,151).

Thailand ranks 128th on the global list of most cases, while the US tops the list with 24.48 million, followed by India 10.57 million, Brazil 8.49 million, Russia 3.57 million and the United Kingdom 3.4 million.