Thai health authorities have approved new guidelines outlining the parameters for declaring the coronavirus pandemic an endemic disease, reports AP.

Official figures show that the country already meets the three criteria, but Ministry of Public Health spokesperson Rungrueng Kitphati said it would still be between six months and a year before the government would be able to make the decision to start treating Covid-19 as an illness that is here to stay, like the flu or measles.

The guidelines drawn up by the ministry's National Communicable Disease Committee are made up of three criteria: that there are fewer than 10,000 new cases per day; that the fatality rate is no higher than 0.1 per cent of those who are admitted to the hospital with an infection; and that more than 80pc of at-risk people have had at least two vaccinations.