Thailand will soon have 8,000 new daily cases without intervention: health officials

Thailand will hit 8,000 new COVID-19 cases per day next month if it doesn’t do more to contain its second-wave outbreak, the public face of the pandemic response said this morning.

While delivering the day’s caseload – up slightly from Monday – COVID-19 task force spokesman Taweesilp Wisanuyothin said that the virus has been spreading at an alarming rate since it re-emerged 11 days ago, spreading to 44 provinces and the capital and sickening more than 2,000. He blamed its fast spread on people gathering socially to celebrate or gamble, and warned of stricter containment measures to come.

“If we hadn’t imposed any measures at all, we could have as many as 18,000 new cases per day,  and if we don’t tighten measures, it will be 8,000 cases per day,” Taweesilp said, adding that Thailand was now on track for the latter. “If we help each other, we can,…