Grand Bella hotel continues as field hospital in Pattaya, proactively testing for Covid-19

PATTAYA (NNT) – Social distancing measures and the isolation of persons at-risk are crucial in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. Field hospitals are an important facility to aid quarantine and maintain isolation. Grand Bella Hotel in Pattaya is now among several hotels in the country converted into field hospitals for COVID-19 patients. The hotel also serves as a COVID-19 test center for people in Pattaya city.

Health workers have been actively working at Grand Bella Hotel Pattaya in Chonburi to locate persons at-risk of COVID-19 infection, swabbing their throats and nose to collect specimens for lab testing. The center at Grand Bella Hotel can collect specimens from up to 300 persons a day without undue crowding, while the seats are placed 1-meter apart to maintain physical distancing.

This morning, some 100 people visited the center to receive risk assessment screenings and undergo tests. All persons are required to show their national ID or passport to the staff.

The goal is several hundred proactive tests a day on at risk patients and so far over 900 people have been tested for Covid-19 in the past week who are asymptomatic. Only one test was positive and that individual was found to be a close personal contact of a previous confirmed case.

High risk groups are those who are still exposed to many people, such as Immigration, taxi drivers, convienence store workers, condo security guards, charity workers and more. The Grand Bella is aiming to complete 2000 tests on high risk groups in the Pattaya area to get an idea on if there is an issue with widespread infections in Chonburi.

Pattaya is currently under a closure restriction allowing only local residents and those with essential needs to enter the city. This is to assist in the testing of high risk groups. The test is completely free, including for foreigners, but one must be considered high risk. For a foreigner, this generally means recent travel or residing in a condo where there was a positive case of Covid-19. The test and results take only about 45 minutes as the Grand Bella is using a new test called the lamp test.

In addition to the test center, Grand Bella Hotel has also been converted into a field hospital and quarantine center for those at high risk who have not yet received their test results. This arrangement helps reduce crowding at hospitals, and better prevents the transmission of this disease.

Source: NNT with additional material by The Pattaya News.

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Adam Judd
Mr. Adam Judd is the Co-owner of TPN Media since December 2017. He is originally from Washington D.C., America, but has also lived in Dallas, Sarasota, and Portsmouth. His background is in retail sales, HR, and operations management, and has written about news and Thailand for many years. He has lived in Pattaya for over nine years as a full-time resident, is well known locally and been visiting the country as a regular visitor for over a decade. His full contact information, including office contact information, can be found on our Contact Us page below. Stories please e-mail Editor@ThePattayanews.com About Us: https://thepattayanews.com/about-us/ Contact Us: https://thepattayanews.com/contact-us/