Daily infections likely to drop to 5,000 before Oct-end: Public Health Ministry

“The number of severe cases that require respirators have also declined to about 3,000 per day, from 4,000 to 5,000 in previous weeks,” he said.

“The reason for this is due to the increased vaccination rate that helps prevent against severe symptoms.”

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Kiattiphum said that currently about 50 per cent of Thais have received their first jabs while 25 per cent have been fully vaccinated.

“We expect this ratio to increase to 60 per cent and 50 per cent, respectively, by the end of October, and then to 80 per cent and 70 per cent by December, which is the vaccination target to achieve herd immunity,” he said.

“If we can keep up this trend, it is estimated that by around March 2022 the outbreak will be at a fairly controllable level and people can continue their daily lives almost similar to the normal situation in the past, but they still need to wear face masks in public,” Kiattiphum pointed out.

“These are just mathematically based estimations. There are still factors that could cause a spike in daily infections, such as emergence of new clusters, a new mutated variant, and people letting their guard down after lockdown measures are lifted,” he added.

On Wednesday morning the ministry reported 10,414 new infections in the past 24 hours and an additional 122 deaths.