Several hospitals have begun closing their Covid-19 wards as the number of virus-linked admissions has fallen, according to the Department of Medical Services.
That is because most Covid-19 patients are now receiving care at home for mild symptoms, said Dr Somsak Akksilp, director-general of the department, yesterday.
"With this decreased workload in handling Covid-19 patients, it's time for hospitals to return healthcare resources to other departments that need them more," he said.
Dr Naronglit Masaya-anon, deputy dean of the Faculty of Medicine at Mahidol University, meanwhile, said Ramathibodi Hospital is resuming its normal operation timetable after many were delayed while priority was given to Covid-19 patients.
Lerdsin Hospital, too, is scaling back and will stop admitting Covid-19 cases to its field unit which currently only has 30-40 of its 200 beds filled, said Dr Somsak.
He noted that the field hospital was set up to treat up to 200 patients.
"New Covid-19 patients who come to this field hospital are therefore transferred to a hospital where they actually have the right to free healthcare services," he said.
"[Lerdsin Hospital] now expects to, in about a week or two, resume its normal operations as before [the Covid-19 pandemic began],"
Moreover, he said the close monitoring of coronavirus strains will continue after recent detections of new sub-variants abroad.
"Guidelines on the prevention and treatment of Covid-19 in the event the disease becomes recognised as endemic are currently being drafted," he said.
He also urged parents of children aged five and over to get their second shots before they return to school.
Thailand yesterday recorded 9,331 new Covid-19 infections and 84 deaths.
