HCMC – The southern province of Binh Phuoc has passed a plan to establish one more Covid-19 field hospital with 964 beds as new infections and hospitalizations have surged.
Yesterday, December 13, saw Binh Phuoc coming in second in the nation in terms of new daily cases, at 998.
Over the past two days, the province reported over 1,000 daily cases, and new infections are forecast to continue soaring in the coming days, leading to the provincial government setting up another field hospital.
The facility, called Field Hospital K72, will be located in Tan Phu Ward of Dong Xoai City. Of the 964 beds, 180 will be arranged for critically ill patients, 672 beds for moderately and seriously ill patients, and 112 units for patients who are waiting to be discharged from hospital, reported Tuoi Tre newspaper.
In the first phase, 450 healthcare workers will be dispatched to the field hospital. After that, the hospital’s director will work with the provincial Health Department to send more medical workers to the hospital based on the demand for treatment.
According to the provincial government, district- and commune-level medical facilities currently have 2,100 beds for cases with mild or no symptoms. Provincial facilities have 4,400 beds, with nearly 400 beds for severely- and critically-ill patients.
By 6 p.m. yesterday, Binh Phuoc’s Covid case number had reached around 16,600, with nearly 8,700 of them being active and 28 dead.
In related news, the northern province of Quang Ninh will start giving Covid-19 booster shots this Saturday, December 18, to people 18 and older across the province, Nguyen Xuan Ky, secretary of the provincial Party Committee and chairman of the provincial People’s Council, told a Covid meeting held yesterday.
The province will make efforts to complete the booster shot campaign in the first quarter of 2022, he added, reported Lao Dong newspaper.
The province had given the second dose to people 12 and older. The vaccination of children has been safe as of now.
He asked local authorities to continue monitoring the possible transmission risk among children under 12 who have yet to be vaccinated, people 65 and older with underlying medical conditions, people who are eligible to get vaccinated but have yet to get their shots or have rejected vaccination, and employees coming to Quang Ninh from other provinces.
The local authorities were required to make a list of people who have refused to get vaccinated and request them to sign a pledge, with the deadline for the task being December 15. If infected with Covid, these people will have to cover all the medical treatment costs, he said.
