City Hall will open more hospitels, or hospital-cum-hotels, to provide 4,424 beds for Covid-19 patients in the "green" group, or those with mild or no symptoms.
The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) is working with private hospitals, hotels and a training centre in setting up the hospitels, which will be transformed from small hotels left vacant as a result of the pandemic.
Starting today, officials will begin moving patients from a field hospital at Ratpipat Stadium 1 in Thawi Watthana district to the Twin Tower Hotel, which serves a hospitel. Fifteen patients will be moved to there each day, Bangkok governor Aswin Kwanmuang said.
When all patients are moved, Ratpipat Stadium 1 field hospital will treat patients in the yellow group or those with moderate symptoms, Pol Gen Aswin said.
Meanwhile, 36 more Covid-19 fatalities and 4,662 new cases were recorded over the last 24 hours, the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) announced yesterday. Apart from 10 prison inmates, all were in the general population.
CCSA spokesman, Taweesilp Visanuyothin, said the 36 new fatalities were aged 41-93 years old. Thirty-five were Thais and one was a New Zealander. Twenty of them had diabetes and three had no reported chronic diseases.
Bangkok recorded 19 of the deaths. Seven fatalities occurred in Nonthaburi, two each in Nakhon Pathom and Chiang Rai, and one each in Samut Sakhon, Samut Prakan, Chon Buri, Songkhla, Prachin Buri and Samut Songkhram.
The 4,652 general population cases involved 4,624 local infections in 71 provinces, as well as 28 imported cases. Among the local infections, 3,683 were confirmed in hospitals and 941 through mass testing.
Bangkok had the most cases at 1,692 (a new record high), followed by 647 in Samut Prakan, 293 in Samut Sakhon, 185 in Nonthaburi, 182 in Songkhla, 180 in Pathum Thani, 168 in Nakhon Pathom and 146 in Chon Buri.