China to build new hospital for coronavirus treatment in 10 days

BEIJING: China is working to build a new hospital within a rapid 10-days timeframe to treat patients at the dramatic entry of a deadly virus outbreak where hundreds of people have been infected by the disease, Chinese state media reported on Saturday.

It is planned that the hospital in central Wuhan will be in use by February 3 to service a growing number of patients diagnosed with a coronavirus that has left at least 26 people dead and millions locked in an effort to reduce its spreading.

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Dozens of trucks and excavators were recorded working on the site by state media of China. It will have a capacity of 1,000 beds located over 25,000 square meters, said the official news agency.

Construction has started when news surfaced of bed shortages in hospitals assigned to help with the epidemic, which has now affected 830 people in China. According to the media, the new facility intends to “relieve the scarcity of medical treatment services and would improve the patient’s care capability.

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In 2003, China constructed a hospital in the rural outskirts of Beijing in barely a week to accommodate for a rapidly increasing number of patients suffering from SARS, or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, which in 2002-2003 killed 349 people in mainland China and 299 in Hong Kong.