Bangkok’s Battle for a Back‑Up Bed Battalion
Bangkok’s emergency response office just announced a grand plan: 10,000 field‑hospital beds will be up and running in a flash‑over to curb the third Covid‑19 wave. This rush might feel like a sprint to the finish line while the whole city’s hospitals keep taking a day off from testing due to a shortage of kits and a shortage of patience.
The Testing Dilemma
- Hospitals are hitting the pause button on testing because the moment a patient tests positive, they have to haul them into a hospital bed—something the facilities aren’t ready for.
- Without enough capacity, the staff have to dodge the diagnosis and keep the public temperature low.
Drama in Numbers
Dr. Suksan Kittisupakorn, the blood‑and‑time‑tight director‑general of the Medical Service Department, pitched the plan to reporters on Saturday, saying:
“We’ll crank up the field hospital beds to 10,000 in no time. That’s the confidence boost we need to keep the current wave from crashing in fully.”
That wave, according to him, is “the worst yet.” The latest figures: 789 new cases and one death for Saturday alone—bringing the total to 31,658 confirmed cases and 97 total deaths nationwide.
So far this month, the tally is 2,697 new infections, with 1,058 cases bubbling right in Bangkok, the epicenter of a whirlwind that has puffed up from single digits to a few hundred daily. The stirring culprit? A gritty, highly transmissible B117 variant that first poked its way into the scene back in Britain but is now speeding across 62 of Thailand’s 77 provinces.
Smack‑Up Axes & Holiday Shock
Prime Minister Prayuth Chan‑o‑cha is pulling a strand‑out‑of‑a‑book announcement: as the third wave collides with imminent national holidays and the attempted re‑opening to tourists, he’s shouting, “If you don’t need to travel, stay home.” That’s his pitch—no nursing home, no crowd.
Vaccination Vigor
The National Immunisation Roadmap is looking for a summer start in June. Over 530,000 health‑care heroes and the nation’s most vulnerable have already jumped the vaccine bandwagon. The country just snagged another 1 million Sinovac doses from China, with an additional 500,000 on the way. All it takes is the willingness to get the jab, not a mirage of a miraculous cure.
Between the 10,000 beds on the sideline and a steady roll‑out of vaccines, Bangkok’s not hoping for a miracle—just a well‑timed plan and the community staying the course.
