KANCHANABURI: A field hospital will be set up at the provincial prison in this western border province after 379 inmates were found infected with Covid-19 in active case-finding, governor Jirakiat Bhumisawasdi said on Sunday.
He said the field hospital would be located inside the prison, and house infected inmates who were asymtomatic or had mild symptoms. The treatment facility would be manned by medical personnel from Phahon Phonphayuhasena, the province's main hospital, he added.
Mr Jirakiat earlier warned on his Facebook page that the number of new infections would soar because active case-finding, instead of random checks, was being conducted at all major factories and the provincial prison.
Some infected migrants would be moved from different border locations to the field hospital at Khao Chon Kai in Muang district.
He said the number of infections in the province would also be swollen by the programme to accept Covid-19 patients from Bangkok and other provinces in the dark-red zone for treatment,
As a result, Mr Jirakiat expected the daily new caseload in Kanchanaburi would on Monday surpass 600, including about 300 at the prison and about 300 others at various factories.
There are now three field hospitals in Kanchanaburi: one with 320 beds at Makarak Hospital in Tha Maka district; one with 100 beds in a building at the One-Tambon-One-Product (OTOP) centre under the provincial administration organisation; and the other at a territorial defence training centre at Khao Chon Kai at tambon Lat Ya in Muang district.