HCM City operates four new field hospitals as COVID-19 infections surge

The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health has built four makeshift hospitals with a capacity of 12,000 beds in order to receive and treat local COVID-19 patients amid rising infections in the city.

The past ten days has seen a student dormitory belonging to the Vietnam National University’s Ho Chi Minh City branch converted into the city’s first temporary hospital, that accommodates 4,000 beds.

The second 2,000 bed-hospital located in a residential area of District 12 came into operation July 4.

Three days later, two 3,000-bed hospitals were established in Thu Duc city and Binh Chanh district, both of which will provide treatment to COVID-19 patients.

The southern metropolis has developed scenarios to treat between 10,000 and 15,000 cases infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

At present, the city is currently the epicentre of the latest outbreak in southern Vietnam, with more than 7,500 cases recorded within the local community since the resurgence of the virus in late April.

As many as 279 COVID-19 patients who are critically ill are currently being treated in nine hospitals, including six relying on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), a sophisticated form of therapy used to save critically ill patients.