Bangkok needs more beds for severe Covid patients

Bangkok needs more beds for severe Covid patients

A new field hospital for Covid-19 patients was opened at the Chalerm Phrakiat sports centre in Thung Khru district of Bangkok on Monday.(Photo: Arnun Chonmahatrakool)
A new field hospital for Covid-19 patients was opened at the Chalerm Phrakiat sports centre in Thung Khru district of Bangkok on Monday.(Photo: Arnun Chonmahatrakool)

Bangkok will need more beds for severely ill Covid-19 cases over the next couple of weeks, the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration said on Friday as the number of daily infections hit a new high.

CCSA spokesman Taweesilp Visanuyothin said Bangkok had been exceeding 500 new cases a day since the beginning of this month. The number continued to rise and reached 869 over the past 24 hours.

Meanwhile, the number of severely ill cases in the capital was also rising every day- from 417 on May 1 to 423, 441, 461, 466 and 496 on the following days. The figures in some adjacent provinces like Nonthaburi and Nakhon Pathom were also increasing, he said.

"Resource management of hospital beds must take into consideration the number of patients in Bangkok and nearby provinces," the spokesman said.

Demand for beds in Greater Bangkok would continue to rise into the second or third week of this month. A new field hospital with more than 1,000 beds for severely ill cases would be erected at a conference centre in Chaeng Watthana area, Dr Taweesilp said.

Covid-19 transmission already shifted from entertainment places early last month to close contact between people in communities and families, he said.

Dr Taweesilp said since thethird wave of Covid-19 began last month, 191 cases had been detected in Bang Kae district. They were in Bang Khing community, The Mall Bangkae shopping centre, Soi Phetkasem 84 and Thaweechote housing estate. Disease control efforts were continuing in the district, he said.

Covid-19 deaths were also rising in Bangkok and there were issues about funeral services, he said.

He did not expand on this, but there have been reports of temples refusing to accept the bodies of Covid-victims for cremation, for fear of contagion.

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