Bangkok to open 500 more field hospitals after Covid-19 spike
Bangkok Governor Chadchart Sittipunt said more field hospitals and isolation centres would be reopened to curb the recent spike in Omicron sub-variants BA.4 and BA.5 if it is necessary.
The 56 year old told media today that the Omicron sub-variants BA.4 and BA.5 have increased recently since the relaxation of mask-wearing raising the number of Covid-19 infected patients in Bangkok.
The governor insisted that hospital beds in Bangkok are still available for patients and that the beds in Bangkok field hospitals are only 20% full.
Bangkok has earmarked more field hospitals in the Nong Chok district and will open isolation centres in Ratchapipat Hospital in the Bang Khae districts, but opening dates have not yet been revealed.
Chadchart added that home isolation is still preferred, but the field hospitals would be a choice for Covid patients who wanted to separate themselves from elders or family members in the sensitive group categories.
The media today reported new coronavirus cases in Bangkok are on the increase again.
Bangkok’s Public Relations Department made public today there were 1,406 new cases and 5 deaths. Ratchathewi district is housing the most patients at 115 while Bang Khae district, and Nong Chok district, where new field hospitals and isolation centres would be opened, are in the capital’s top 10 list.
The Thai Deputy of Health, Sathit Pitutecha, last week urged the Ministry of Public Health to reveal the actual numbers of infections. He claimed that the actual number of current infections is more like 20,000 to 30,000 per day, not the 2,000 cases being reported daily.
Two weeks before, a doctor from Siriraj Hospital, Nitiphat Chierakul, made a similar statement, saying cases had reached 50,000 since June.
According to the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration, the number of Covid cases in the country was expected to peak in September. The department added that the cases would decrease quickly in November if the residents followed pandemic prevention measures suggested by the Ministry of Public Health.
