China made ‘Mission Impossible’ possible by building a makeshift hospital in record 10 days to battle against the novel strain of coronavirus in Wuhan, the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak in central the country’s Hubei Province.
The death toll has climbed to 360 on February 3rd, 2020, surpassing the 349 fatalities from the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak of 2002-03 in China. As of now, the never-seen-before virus has since spread to more than 24 countries. A total of new 2,829 cases were reported in China.
The hospital, Huoshenshan, or ‘fire-god mountain’, is designed to have 1,000 beds for patients with confirmed infections. On January 23rd, 2020, the 7,000-member crew broke ground on Huoshenshan Hospital.
The Chinese authorities said that people who test positive for the new coronavirus will be treated in the new hospital until they recover and are no longer contagious. This new 25,000-square-metre (30,000 sq yd) hospital will also ease the shortage of beds elsewhere in the country as the virus spreads.
The Xinhuanet reported, the authorities spent five hours on the designing plan and created a designing draft within 24 hours. Three companies received the order to build the Huoshenshan Hospital under the Third Construction Co., Ltd. of China Construction Third Engineering Bureau.
The second makeshift 1,500 beds hospital is coming up in Leishenshan (Thunder God Mountain) within the next few days. It is scheduled to be completed on Feb 5th, 2020. The Leishenshan Hospital is 25 miles away from Huoshenshan Hospital.
Both the makeshift hospitals have been erected replicating Beijing’s SARS treatment model in 2003. Each room is built off-site with aluminium and steel, then brought to the site to plugin and stack up. The exterior of the building is said to be likely plaster or metal.
A total of 1,400 medical staff from the armed forces will treat the patients in Huoshenshan Hospital starting from February 3rd, 2020. The hospital received the first batch of patients on February 3rd, 2020.
To combat the spread of the virus, several Chinese cities, including Wuhan, are on lockdown and have been quarantined.
Photo: Twitter
