Thailand is struggling with a shortage of hospital beds amid an unabated wave of coronavirus infections, forcing the government to hastily set up temporary facilities to admit COVID-19 patients.
The Southeast Asian country, where the highly contagious Delta variant is spreading rapidly, reported 21,379 new coronavirus cases on Friday, its highest daily increase since the start of the pandemic early last year, with a record single-day death tally of 191.
As hospitals in Bangkok, an epicenter of the outbreak of infections, are full of patients, the government and private sector are constructing temporary hospitals inside the Don Mueang and Suvarnabhumi international airports near the capital, which have much fewer flights due to coronavirus travel restrictions.
The temporary hospital at the Don Mueang airport, with a capacity of some 1,800 beds, is scheduled to open Thursday next week, and the one at Suvarnabhumi airport will be completed later this month, according to government officials.
The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration is also assembling an isolation facility for those who have tested positive for the novel coronavirus at a train maintenance area of Bang Sue Grand Station.
The facility at the station, which has already served as a COVID-19 vaccination center, will accommodate around 400 people.
The construction is a part of the measures taken by the metropolitan government, with Bangkok Gov. Aswin Kwanmuang focused on containing the spread of the infections at the earliest.
In the capital city, some homeless people, who were believed to be infected with the virus but could not receive proper medical care, have died on the streets, according to posts on social media, bringing criticism of the central and metropolitan governments.
Thailand had succeeded in controlling the coronavirus last year. However, like many countries worldwide, the country has seen the current wave of infections fueled by the spread of the Delta variant.
Its total number of infection cases has reached 714,684, with 5,854 fatalities to date.
As only around 6 percent of the population has received two doses of vaccination, public complaints about government mismanagement of the COVID-19 response are mounting, and protesters have recently staged gatherings to demand the ouster of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha and his government.
