PHUKET: The resort island has added more beds for Covid-19 patients as the number of new cases continues to rise.
Vachira Phuket Hospital director Chalermpong Suthonthaphol said on Thursday the hospital had allocated more beds reserved for regular patients to those infected with the coronavirus as new infections remained high on the island.
"The bed occupation rate has reached a critical point," he said.
Phuket has 2,542 beds for Covid patients and 90% of them have been occupied, according to provincial public health office figures released on Thursday. The number included beds at public, private and two field hospitals.
Dr Chalermpong said health authorities were moving Covid-19 patients who were not in critical condition to field hospitals to make room for critical ones.
Phuket on Wednesday recorded 246 new cases, two of which were from the sandbox scheme. The number of new cases has exceeded 200 for more than a week.
Muanphrae Boonlom, the deputy chief of the public health office in Phuket, said the virus continued to spread on the island, which had nine clusters.
