Thailand could see an additional 500,000 Covid-19 cases and 7,500 fatalities by the end of the year if the prime minister's reopening plan in October remains on track, a medical professor said on Tuesday.
This includes likely unreported cases and asymptomatic cases, said Dr Thira Woratanarat, a professor of medicine at Chulalongkorn University, on his Facebook page.
Thira added that the impact of Covid-19 went beyond statistics.
"Covid-19 impacts more than just the infected, it affects the family of the infected as well and has ramifications for the entire economy in the long term," Thira said.
Prime minister Prayut Chan-ocha said in June that he wants to open the country's borders by October despite a surge in case numbers due to the Delta variant.
Thailand has recorded over 1,050,000 coronavirus cases and 9,300 deaths since the pandemic began.
According to Thira, the only solution for the country is to innoculate the population.
Around 28 per cent of the population has received one dose of Covid-19 vaccine while 8 per cent are fully vaccinated.
Rising unemployment rate
Case numbers in Thailand have fallen for three days but experts urged caution even as the lifting of lockdown restrictions were being considered by the cabinet.
Businesses and business leaders have petitioned the government to lift lockdown restrictions.
The Employers' Confederation of Thai Trade and Industry (EconThai) said that unemployment in the third quarter will likely surge due to the restrictions.
The number of unemployed workers is anticipated to reach 937,500 in the second quarter That would bring the country's unemployment rate to 2.5 percent up from 1.06 percent in the first quarter, Tanit Sorat, the vice-chairman of EconThai said.
According to EconThai, the jobless are those who work only 1-19 hours per week, whereas the employed work at least eight hours per day, or 48 hours per week.
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