Internal discussions within the government and the public health ministry suggest that the current wave of the pandemic will not be brought under control until June, sources told Thai Enquirer on Friday.
Thailand has seen the number of new cases per day continue to climb with the country reporting over 1,000 cases per day for several days.
Field hospitals are being built throughout the country to house patients with at least 8 provinces now classified as a red zone by the government.
The government will meet on Friday to discuss imposing a partial or total lockdown of the country to combat the latest wave of the coronavirus pandemic which began in entertainment venues in the capital.
“Even if the country were brought into a lockdown immediately, the Songkran travels have likely made the situation much worse,” said a source in the health ministry who requested anonymity.
“Internal discussions say that in a best case scenario, we will have the situation under control by late May to early June,” the source told Thai Enquirer by phone.
So far, inter-province travel is still allowed and many people have begun to return to the capital following the Thai New Year period.
However, experts have said that the uncontrolled nature of the pandemic coupled with the travel during Songkran means that more provinces than ever before have been exposed to the disease.
“If the country doesn’t lockdown, the doctors are predicting a worst case scenario of several thousand new cases a day and we’re going not going to see the end of the pandemic until the vaccines play a significant role,” the source said.
“Imagine France, the US, the UK, that’s our future if we don’t start fighting this thing now and people start taking responsibility.”
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