Bangkok preps 30,000 beds amid spike in case numbers
Bangkok’s public and private hospitals are preparing up to 30,000 beds for Covid-19 patients amid an expected surge in cases of Omicron variant. On Thursday the capital’s daily caseload jumped to 937 new infections.
The city is also speeding up search-and-trace operations, said a Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) spokesperson. Vaccination points have opened at 11 more hospitals and 69 public health centres. Free jabs can now be booked via the QueQ app at more than 100 vaccination centres across all 50 districts of the city.
For treatment of new cases, Bangkok has prepared 41 waiting centres with 5,116 beds. Patients with no or mild symptoms will be advised to enter home isolation (HI).
People unable to enter HI will be admitted to community isolation (CI) via waiting centres. Those whose conditions improve will return to home isolation, but if their symptoms worsen they will be sent to hospital.
As of Wednesday, 239 of Bangkok’s 4,877 beds were occupied by coronavirus cases. The city also has eight Covid field hospitals with 1,660 beds.
City residents who test positive with an antigen test kit can call 1330-14 24 hours a day. In case of emergency they should call the Erawan centre hotline at 1669.