Wuhan converting exhibition venues into temporary hospitals

The construction of three mobile cabin hospitals in Wuhan, Hubei province has picked up steam on Monday night as part of the efforts to contain and treat patients suspected of contracting the novel coronavirus.

The city will make use of the city's sports stadium and two convention centers, and renovate them into three mobile hospitals to offer a total of 3,400 beds to treat novel coronavirus infected patients with mild symptoms.

Ma Guoqiang, Party chief of Wuhan, said at a video conference on Monday night that local authorities should make every effort to transform the city's exhibition venues into cabin hospitals to increase isolation space and designated hospital beds.

Workers start building a mobile cabin hospital in Wuhan International Conference & Exhibition Center, Central China's Hubei province, Feb 3, 2020. [Photo by Liu Kun/chinadaily.com.cn]

Medical staff will be dispatched to the three hospitals to take care of patients who test positive for the virus — but show no severe symptoms — as soon as they are completed. Once a patient's symptoms worsen, he or she will be transferred to Jinyintan Hospital, one of the city's designated hospitals to admit patients infected with the new virus, in a timely manner.

With the rapid building underway, the hospital in Wuhan Parlor convention center, with a capacity of 2,000 patients will be the first to become operational on Tuesday night.