Thailand risks missing its objective of fully reopening the country in around 100 days as it struggles to contain a deadly wave of Covid-19 infections and as Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha considers new restrictions in a meeting Friday.

The spread of the highly contagious Delta variant in Thailand and low rate of immunizations mean that new infections and death rate will continue to increase, health officials said.

Thailand has struggled to stem the pandemic after its initial success to combat the disease last year, when it enforced a hard lockdown.

But that dealt a heavy blow to its tourism industry and battered the economy into its worst performance in more than 20 years.

On Thursday, health authorities reported 7,000 new infections and 75 deaths, a daily record for the country, bringing the total number of deaths to 2,462 since the pandemic broke out last year.

The spike in cases, linked to the Delta strain, means the government's plans might have to be suspended, BBC said.

Thailand's hospitals have already run out of beds for critically ill patients following a tenfold surge in cases since early April, forcing health officials to set up makeshift treatment facilities by converting some hotels into hospitals.

"A strict lockdown is the only way out," Dr. Anan Jongkaewwattana, a director of the research department at the National Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, told Bloomberg.

Meanwhile, a week into an ambitious but risky plan to open the Thai resort island of Phuket to immunized guests, signs were encouraging the gambit to breathe life back into the crippled tourism industry was working -- even as cases of the virus elsewhere in the country rose to record highs.

In a country where tourism accounts for almost a quarter of its gross dometic product, more than 1.4 million jobs have been lost in these sectors alone, Forbes reported.

Thais have been affected as well, with the nation's poverty rate soaring from 6% in 2019 to 8.9% last year, according to the World Bank.

Thailand's recovery will depend on international growth and progress in its vaccination program.

Thai health officials have vowed to inoculate 70% of the population by end of the year -- but rates remain in single digits, according to Forbes.