China opens virus hospital built from scratch in under two weeks
BEIJING, China —
The 1,000-bed facility
Fifty patients arrived at the military-run facility, the state-backed China Daily reported, with images showing workers in protective suits pushing people in wheelchairs up a ramp and into the pre-fabricated structure.
The virus has killed
The World Health Organization has declared the crisis a global health emergency, and
As reports surfaced of bed shortages in hospitals in Wuhan, construction began on
Workers toiled day and night amid a forest of earthmovers and trucks carting materials around the site, southwest of the centre of the city of 11 million.
On the side of one
Fire and thunder
All workers wore masks, as mandated by the authorities for the entire population of Wuhan, and
By the following Friday, they had laid 400 prefabricated shipping-container-like rooms, after setting concrete foundations and routing the power supply to the complex.
The two-floor facility
State media had initially reported that patients would begin arriving Monday
Fire and thunder
Authorities said
That pathogen killed 349 people in China and hundreds more in Hong Kong and abroad.
However, with the death toll surging in Wuhan and elsewhere in Hubei province, it was not immediately clear what overall impact the hospitals would have on the virus spreading elsewhere.
The city also plans to convert three existing venues, including a gymnasium and an exhibition centre, into hospitals, the Wuhan government said.
Livestreamed
Footage of the mammoth construction effort
It has also
Local Communist Party secretary
Follow this page for updates on a mysterious pneumonia outbreak that has struck dozens of people in China.
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