Covid-19 Daily Updates | 30.09.2021

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Phuket Covid-19: hospital beds and occupants jumped this week

One new death from Covid-19 was reported in Phuket last night, along with a new Sandbox infection and another arrival from abroad that was not part of the Sandbox and 195 daily infections. September has seen 55 deaths, bringing the total to 75. Among Phuket Sandbox travellers, 116 infections have now been uncovered as well as 26 infections from abroad that were not part of the Sandbox.

Since last week, data released showed that available hospital beds in Phuket nearly tripled in one day, while the number of occupied beds doubled at the same time. On September 27, data from the Phuket Provincial Public Health Office showed 2,021 occupied beds out of 2,471 total beds. Then the next day, total hospital beds jumped 4,019 to a total of 6,490 beds while at the same time, occupied beds jumped 1,999 to a total of 4,020 hospitalised patients.

No explanation was readily available for the huge jump. The day before the huge increase, Covid-19 Care Centres saw a sharp 25% increase with 472 people being admitted to centres in one day, jumping from 1,507 to 1,979 patients.

The death toll stood at 20 as this month began, and has now reached 75, meaning that there have been nearly triple as many deaths this month as the combined total from April to the end of August. The past 7 days have had an average of 2 deaths per day, down from last week, indicating deaths are slowing a bit.


Remember !!

The Phuket Sandbox is in many ways an experiment designed to rejuvenate the Thai tourism industry amidst the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the organizers have prepared five worst-case scenarios that would lead to the cancellation of the scheme.

• More than 90 positive cases are logged within one week.
• Infections are detected in at least three districts or more than six sub-districts of Phuket.
• More than three clusters are found without indication of origin.
• The number of infected individuals doesn’t exceed 80 percent of available beds in Phuket hospitals.
• The outbreak is uncontrollable.

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Hospital Beds almost full in Phuket



The Phuket Sandbox is in trouble as Phuket’s governor and other officials say the Covid situation on the island is reaching a critical level now that there is now only 20% of hospital beds still available. These remaining beds are expected to fill up soon as new infections average more than 200 a day. Governor Narong Woonsiew chaired a meeting of the provincial communicable disease committee yesterday that included various health officials. They met to discuss the current Covid situation and how to institute proper measures to deal with the rising cases.

Provincial health chief Dr Kusak Kukiartkul, who was at the meeting, says that the infections in Phuket show no sign of letting up. He adds that the Zone 5 of the provincial prison has been sealed following the news that 199 inmates had contracted Covid. Also, that the Thai Mai community has been locked down for 14 days after 144 people who live in the area tested positive. The doctor says about 85% of the cases are asymptomatic, 12% have mild or moderate symptoms and the remaining 3% are severe cases with a .4% fatality rate.

Those at the meeting agreed that to deal with the shortage of hospital beds asymptomatic patients should isolate at home to leave beds for those who need urgent treatment. They also decided at the meeting to open community isolation centres at 2 hotels. The centres will be able to accommodate just under 400 patients. A community isolation centre will also be opened at the provincial prison for infected inmates.

Earlier this week, it was announced that Phuket was easing restrictions to make it easier for residents to enter and leave the island. The island also plans to allow domestic, vaccinated tourists to enter the island.