The Office of the Basic Education Commission (Obec) has ordered schools across the country to allow unused buildings on their premises to be turned into field hospitals.

The plan will increase the space available for Covid-19 patients, especially since hospitals are filling up as a result of the latest surge in new infections.

Existing field hospitals, which are only allowed to admit Covid-19 patients with mild symptoms, are also running out of beds, a source said.

Among those which will be converted into temporary treatment facilities are buildings which are not used as all students are studying from home.

In a bid to increase the number of available beds, over the past two months the army has set also up three more field hospitals each in Songkhla, Roi Et and Saraburi.

The latest addition brings the total number of field hospitals established by the army since the third wave of the pandemic began in April to 19.