The Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) may be modified as part of a new disease control law that will replace the state of emergency, the government said on Wednesday.
The result will be a different yet permanent public health agency.
Until then, however, the CCSA will continue its role in leading the country's efforts to contain Covid-19.
According to Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam, because the CCSA was established under the Emergency Decree, when the state of emergency is lifted, then the CCSA will technically no longer exist.
"However, in practice, the CCSA will continue to function while the government deliberates the new disease control law, although it may have to be transformed into something else after the state of emergency is lifted," he said.
Mr Wissanu was responding to questions about the possibility of dissolving the CCSA when the government revokes the state of emergency, widely seen as a next step in containing the coronavirus outbreak.
He said the government is waiting for a new law that will allow it to declare a state of public health emergency without having to invoke the Emergency Decree, which generally covers all other emergencies, including terrorism and mass unrest.
"As the general state of emergency has been used for some time now, [the government] has found that it doesn't exactly fit the public health emergency the country is dealing with now. As such a specific law is required to replace the general state of emergency," he said.
Public health emergencies require specialised measures that other types of emergencies may not need, he said, before admitting that since 2005 the Emergency Decree has been used as if it was a one-size-fits-all solution.
"When the new law is in place, a body even larger than the CCSA may be established if needed, so it doesn't really matter if the CCSA is dissolved or not," he said.
