Officials in Thailand on Wednesday began building a Covid-19 treatment center on the grounds of an international airport as the country grapples with a prolonged surge in infections.
The Don Mueang International Airport in Bangkok plans to turn a cargo warehouse into a 1,800-bed facility that is expected to open Aug. 12. The facility will treat asymptomatic patients and those with mild symptoms, and is a joint effort by a private hospital, the government and volunteers.
The warehouse “hasn’t been used for years, is open, airy and has good ventilation,” said Dr. Rienthong Nanna, director and chairman of the hospital involved, Mongkutwattana General.
“Patients in the community are like ticking time bombs, and we take them to the hospital to defuse the bombs, and the bombs won’t spread the virus more,” he said.
The facility is not designed to handle serious cases, he added, and patients who develop more severe symptoms will be transported to a field hospital for treatment. As Thailand faces a shortage of medical staff to deal with the outbreak, health officials are training volunteers to handle nonurgent cases.
Thailand recorded a new daily high of 17,699 cases on Thursday, according to health officials, as an outbreak that began in April shows no sign of letting up. After recording fewer than 5,000 cases in all of 2020, the country has now reported more than half a million, with the average of daily cases up 68 percent over the past two weeks, according to a New York Times database.
On Thursday, the authorities in Cambodia said they would impose lockdowns in eight provinces on the border with Thailand, in what they said was an effort to stem the spread of the Delta variant.
The Thai government had promised to introduce a locally produced coronavirus shot starting in June, with the goal of inoculating 70 percent of the population by the end of the year. But hospitals canceled vaccination appointments after less than a week amid reports of a shortage of doses. Just over 5 percent of Thai residents have been fully vaccinated.
In other developments around the world:
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The German government announced that starting this weekend, all travelers arriving from abroad will have to show proof of vaccination, immunity from a past coronavirus infection, or a recent negative test to enter the country. Until now, only travelers from high-risk areas or those arriving by plane had to do that. New case reports in Germany are much lower now than in popular tourist destinations like France, Spain or Greece, but have been rising lately, and a significant surge last fall in Germany was linked in part to Germans bringing the virus home from vacations abroad.
Christopher F. Schuetze contributed reporting.
Source : Nytimes
