Health

Bangkok turns to train carriages to house Covid-19 patients

Bangkok, Jul 28 (EFE).- Bangkok authorities are converting 15 sleeper train carriages to accommodate about 240 patients with mild Covid-19 symptoms amid surging infections and overflowing hospitals.

Officials of the capital, who on Tuesday visited Bang Sue Central Station where the sick will be sent, said that they are finalizing the conversion of the carriages and expect to receive the first patients on Friday.

“We need to install mosquito nets for windows, water and electricity systems and additional bathrooms,” said the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration in a statement.

The capital is the epicenter of the worst wave of Covid-19 in Thailand since the beginning of the in the past 24 hours.

The pressure on the hospitals in Bangkok and surrounding provinces is critical, with the almost 37,000 beds enabled for patients with Covid-19 100 percent occupied, according to official data on Saturday.

Authorities have admitted there have been cases who have died at home after pleading for medical care and while waiting for a hospital bed.

Thailand, the first country outside China to detect cases of the virus last year, has accumulated 543,361 infections since the start of the pandemic, including 4,397 deaths.

Almost 95 percent of the cases and 99 percent of the deaths have been registered during the current wave, which began in early April and is linked to the Delta variant.

The capital and 12 other provinces are under partial lockdown, including a night curfew, limits on gatherings, and the closure of restaurants, bars, shops and leisure establishments, among other measures.

The vaccination campaign, which began in February, is lagging behind the initial schedule presented by the government, and so far around 5 percent of the population is fully vaccinated. EFE

nc-igx/tw

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