Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said on Wednesday the country will be fully reopened within 120 days, with all businesses able to resume normal operations and visitors free to travel across the country.

"I am setting a goal for us to be able to declare Thailand fully open within 120 days from today, and for tourism centres that are ready, to do so even faster," the prime minister said.

Visitors to the country after the full reopening would enter without restrictions, he added.

Prayut said the decision to fully reopen the country would carry risks, but would help all businesses to recover.

"We cannot wait for a time when everyone is fully vaccinated with two shots, or for when the world is free of the virus, to reopen the country ," he said.

His 120-day target would fall in mid-October and Prayut said about 50 million people would have received at least their first Covid jab by then.

Only about 5 million people have now received at least one shot of vaccine, 1.8 million, or 3.7% of the target, were fully vaccinated, according to the latest figures from the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration.

The country therefore still needs to vaccinate another 45.5 million people -- more than 10 million a month -- to achieve Prayut's goal before opening the doors again.

The prime minister said the 50-million-people goal was achievable "if there are enough vaccines."