Just 51 negative pressure isolation beds left in Taipei with recent surge of COVID

With the surge of confirmed cases, the nation''s available negative pressure isolation rooms are down to less than 50 percent, with Taipei and New Taipei bearing the brunt of the scarcity. Deputy Health Minister Shih Chung-liang is now asking asymptomatic people to get tested at COVID screening stations so that hospitals can accommodate people with symptoms.

Shih Chung-liang
Deputy health minister
Regarding the entire medical resource inventory, it is divided into two parts. The number of negative pressure isolation beds in the country is 658, of which 297 are still empty today. In the Taipei area, the number of empty beds is indeed is running low, with only 51 empty beds left. As for the dedicated wards, 172 hospitals with 2,400 beds have been approved. Currently, 1,625 beds have been set up, and there are 1,165 vacant beds. This is what’s available for the whole country, but the situation is also tight in Taipei and New Taipei, where there are about 209 empty beds in the dedicated wards.

Deputy Minister Shih hopes that the COVID-dedicated hospitals in Taipei and New Taipei can smoothly channel confirmed cases to hospitals that have been fitted with special wards to treat COVID patients. He also said negotiations with two Taipei hospitals are ongoing to see if they can be fitted with dedicated wards.