China To Build 1,000-Bed Hospital In Just Ten Days To Manage Coronavirus
As the Chinese city of Wuhan struggles to contain a deadly strain of coronavirus, a massive construction project is underway to build a 1,000-bed hospital.
The hospital is expected to be fully built in a matter of just about ten days with the specific purpose of treating victims of the illness. Initial reports suggested that the construction would be finished in just 6 days, but authorities announced through State TV that this was a slight miscalculation, and that the hospital will be completed by February 3, according to the Guardian.
The hospital is being built with prefabricated buildings on the outskirts of the city, around a complex that was originally designed for local workers, and is intended to be a temporary structure that will be abandoned once the illness is under control.
Chinese authorities took similar measures in 2003 during the SARS outbreak, where 7,000 workers in Beijing built the Xiaotangshan hospital. In fact, this facility is credited as one of the major factors that helped to end the SARS epidemic, and was closed less than two months after authorities determined that the illness was no longer a threat.
On Tuesday night, the future site of the new hospital was filled with heavy machinery, including 35 diggers and 10 bulldozers to begin work on the facility. China State Construction Engineering, one of the companies working on the construction project, said that over 100 workers were on the site on Friday.
With the number of reported cases rising throughout Wuhan and the rest of China, existing hospitals are being overrun with concerned patients, leaving medical professionals unable to keep up with the demand, and exhausting supplies at hospitals throughout the region.
This week, China’s President Xi Jinping finally admitted that the country is facing a “grave” situation, as more travel restrictions were announced to help prevent the illness from spreading further.
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