The government is scrambling to find more beds for Covid-19 patients with severe symptoms as new cases in Bangkok exceed 500 on a daily basis.
Bangkok will need more beds for severely ill Covid-19 patients over the next couple of weeks, the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) said yesterday as the number of newly discovered daily cases hit a new high.
Thailand reported 2,044 new cases yesterday, taking the total number of infections to 78,855 with 27 new deaths. The accumulative death toll is now 363.
CCSA spokesman Taweesilp Visanuyothin said the number of new cases in Bangkok reached 869 in the past 24 hours.
Meanwhile, the number of severe cases in the capital grew exponentially from 417 on May 1 to 496 on Thursday, according to Dr Taweesilp. He said the figures in some adjacent provinces like Nonthaburi and Nakhon Pathom were also increasing.
"Resource management [regarding] hospital beds must be taken into consideration [along with] the number of patients in Bangkok and nearby provinces," the spokesman said.
Demand for beds in the Greater Bangkok area is expected to continue to rise into the second or third week of this month. A new field hospital with more than 1,000 beds for severe cases would be erected at a conference centre in the Chaeng Watthana area, Dr Taweesilp said.
Coronavirus disease transmissions from entertainment venues last month have spilt into communities and families, he said.
He said that since the third wave of infections began last month, 191 cases had been detected in Bang Khae district in places like the Ban Khing community, the Mall Bangkae shopping centre, Soi Phetkasem 84 and the Thaweechote housing estate. Disease control efforts were carried out in the district, he said.
Covid-19 deaths were also on the rise in Bangkok and there were issues about funeral services, Dr Taweesilp said.
He did not expand on the funeral issue, but reports are saying that temples are refusing to cremate the bodies of Covid-19 victims due to infection fears.
City Hall spokesman, Pongsakorn Kwanmuang, said the 191 people who tested positive were isolated cases rather than a cluster.
Eighty-seven of the patients are reportedly residents of the Ban Khing community, while 82 others worked at The Mall Bangkae department store.
Seventy public bus employees who worked near the department store are still waiting for their test results.
