New provincial hall to be used to house patients

PHUKET: The new provincial convention hall will be used as a field hospital for treatment of coronavirus patients, with the number of new cases in the province continuing to rise.

The Provincial Disease Control Committee announced yesterday the ground floor of the hall will initially be used to treat Covid-19 patients who do not have serious symptoms.

Patients with more severe conditions and who need respirators will continue to be treated at Vachira Phuket Hospital.

The ground floor can accommodate 40 beds. The upper floor, which has room for another 70 beds, will also be put into use if necessary, the announcement said.

Phuket governor Pakkapong Thawipat said the temporary hospital is expected to open this Friday.

The new convention hall has not been officially opened yet. It is in the same compound as the Phuket provincial hall.

Four hotels in Phuket township have also been approached for use.

They have room for another 400-500 patients, he said.

The province reported four new virus infections yesterday, bringing the total to 17, with two of them already discharged. The new cases are one French national, one Italian and two Thai citizens.

Of the total cases to date, 12 are foreigners.

Meanwhile, Bangkok governor Aswin Kwanmuang has called on people not to leave Bangkok, where shopping malls and other at-risk places have been shut down to combat the spread of Covid-19.

Pol Gen Aswin issued the call for people’s cooperation in a live broadcast on Facebook yesterday.

He said the spread of Covid-19 was serious and continuing unabated. He thanked people who are refraining from going out to crowded areas.

In the past three days, he said, the number of people travelling out of Bangkok was about 10% higher than usual.

About 90% of those leaving Bangkok were migrant workers from neighbouring countries rushing to border checkpoints before they closed, he said.