A worker lays out mattresses and blankets on a bed made of cardboard inside the warehouse at Don Mueang International Airport in Bangkok. Photo: Lillian Suwanrumpha, AFP
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A huge warehouse at Bangkok Airport has been turned into a hospital for 1,800 covid patients.
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It is happening while Thailand is in the middle of the biggest outbreak they have experienced so far in the pandemic. On Wednesday, 16,533 new cases of infection and 133 corona deaths were reported.
The Delta variant dominates and the infection spreads throughout the country.
To meet the increase in the covid patient, therefore, a huge warehouse at the airport has been converted into a temporary covid hospital. It can accommodate 1800 patients.
Cardboard beds
The beds are made of cardboard and the staff is working hard to lay out mattresses and blankets for the patients, who have not yet arrived at the hospital.
The hospital is ready to receive the less ill covid patients, who will be transferred to other hospitals if they become worse.
Covid train
In Bangkok, the hospitals are full and patients are sent home in bed carriages by train to relieve the health service.
– The process will be safe because they are monitored by doctors and health workers. They will not stop and there will be an emergency team and an ambulance ready when they arrive, said Public Health Minister Anutin Charnirakul to The Guardian on Tuesday.
The fear is that these patients will get worse and overload the hospitals in other Thai provinces.
Other trains have been used to isolate patients waiting to be admitted to hospitals.
—-READY: A policeman with a face mask is standing in front of the train that will transport covid patients from Bangkok to their home province. Photo: NARONG SANGNAK / EPA
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Earlier in July, the government introduced a tightening of restrictions with areas with curfews and domestic flights put on the ground.
Phuket sandbox
At the same time, it has been introduced in a pilot scheme where fully vaccinated tourists can come to Phuket without quarantine, where they must stay for 14 days before they can travel to the mainland.
There is a much-needed money in a country that received nearly 40 million tourists in 2019. In 2020, the number was close to 11,000 tourists, after months of strict entry restrictions.
This scheme – which is called the Phuket sandbox – is now in danger of having to be closed down as the number of infected people also rises here.
Thailand has not come far with the vaccination. So far, just over 17 per cent have received at least one dose, while just over five per cent have been fully vaccinated.
Nearly 4,400 corona victims have lost their lives in Thailand.
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