More Bangkok field hospital beds available as recovered patients outnumber new cases

The Public Health Ministry says the number of Covid-19 patients who’ve recovered has outnumbered new infections in Bangkok for the last 10 days. Dr Kiattibhoom Vongrachit says the reduction in new cases means more field hospital beds have become available in the capital and surrounding provinces.

According to a Thai PBS World report, last week there were 3,526 patients undergoing treatment at Busarakham field hospital. That figure dropped to 1,905 as of Saturday, a 54% decrease. Meanwhile, Nimibutr pre-admission facility only has 94 Covid patients, who are categorised by the severity of their symptoms. There are 54 “green” patients, meaning their symptoms are mild, 34 “yellow” (moderate symptoms) and 6 “red” patients, meaning they have severe symptoms.

However, despite the improvement in the Covid-19 situation in Bangkok and the surrounding provinces, Kiattibhoom says the situation in other provinces has not improved much. He says infections continue to be detected in places like markets, work places, and labour camps for migrant workers. He says there’s an ongoing need for proactive mass screening and the quarantining of infected people through home or community isolation schemes.

Meanwhile, the Department of Disease Control is planning to roll out booster doses of Covid-19 vaccines, as well as distributing 1.5 million Sinovac doses to provinces outside the capital. The governor of Bangkok has also announced the launch of a Line service to manage the transfer of patients to field hospitals, pre-admission centres, or “hospitels”, depending on the severity of their symptoms. Aswin Kwanmuang says the @BkkCovid19Connect service allows patients or their family members to enter their information into the system so they can be processed.

SOURCE: Thai PBS World