New cases of Covid-19 could jump to 20,000 a day by the end of the month unless precautionary measures are taken seriously, the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) said on Monday.

Sumanee Wacharasint, assistant spokeswoman for the CCSA, said that the current situation corresponds with an earlier prediction made by the Public Health Ministry that daily cases may surge to 20,000 by the end of this January, and 30,000 by the end of next month.

Regarding earlier forecasts of a higher fatality rate, the CCSA spokeswoman said that deaths are still low due to large numbers of people having now been vaccinated.

Citing information from the Department of Medical Sciences, she said that 5,397 cases of the Omicron variant had been confirmed in 71 provinces on Sunday.

The Delta strain accounts for the most infections (64.71%), followed by Omicron (35.17%), she said.

However, from Jan 2-8, Omicron accounted for 70.3% of all infections, said Dr Sumanee, also head of the bureau of risk communication and health behaviour development under the Department of Disease Control (DDC).

Dr Kiattiphum Wongrajit, permanent secretary for the Public Health Ministry, agreed that most infections this month have been Omicron.

“Even though new cases are high, deaths are low. This suggests that the new strain is highly transmissible but less severe,” Dr Kiattiphum said.

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