A brand new coronavirus hospital has opened in China’s Huanggang city, close to the city of Wuhan where the outbreak is believed to have originated.
The 1,000-bed Dabie Mountain Regional Medical Centre was constructed in less than one week, with over 500 construction workers, electricians and police having worked around the clock to convert an empty building into a place where patients could be treated.
The building, located in the Huangzhou District, had originally been intended as a new branch of Huanggang Central Hospital, and had been scheduled to open its doors in May. However, with the spread of coronavirus causing countrywide concern, construction has been sped up considerably.
Local authorities didn’t announce the conversion would be taking place until Friday, January 24, with work beginning the very next day, Metro reports.
By January 28, the hospital was ready for patients, complete with water, electricity and internet, as per the government of Huanggang website. With the outbreak continuing to cause concern for public health, there is further speedy construction to come.
An ‘even more ambitious building project’ is reportedly under construction in Wuhan, with authorities having given a deadline of Monday, February 3, for another large-scale city hospital.
Four of these rapidly constructed hospitals are currently being built from pre-fabricated buildings, modelled upon a medical centre which was put together in just seven days in Beijing during the 2002 to 2003 severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) epidemic.
According to the government of Huanggang website:
Prior to this, Huanggang had identified 13 designated hospitals and 29 hot clinics, which focused on patients, resources, experts, and treatment, and quickly played a role.
Faced with the increasing trend of fever patients, there is still a long line of consultations and tight beds. For this reason, Huanggang emergency research decided to recruit Dabieshan Regional Medical Center as the centralized treatment point for fever patients.
As per The World Health Organisation (WHO), ‘coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that cause illness ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome’. However, this current coronavirus is a new, previously unidentified strain.
Huanggang, situated approximately 46 miles from the Wuhan, is one of the cities which have been most affected by the coronavirus outbreak.
Both Huanggang and Wuhan have been placed on lock-down as of Thursday, January 23, while countries throughout the world have continued to report instances of the infection.
The total number of coronavirus cases as exceeded over 6,100 worldwide, with 132 deaths having been reported in China, as per CNBC.
Since patient zero was identified in Wuhan on December 31, the number of coronavirus infections in China has risen to over 6,060, exceeding the total number of SARS cases recorded in China during the 2002 to 2003 epidemic.
Our thoughts are with all those who have been affected by the ongoing coronavirus epidemic.
If you have a story you want to tell, send it to UNILAD via story@unilad.com
Jules studied English Literature with Creative Writing at Lancaster University before earning her masters in International Relations at Leiden University in The Netherlands (Hoi!). She then trained as a journalist through News Associates in Manchester. Jules has previously worked as a mental health blogger, copywriter and freelancer for various publications.