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Pictures show the first coronavirus patients arriving at the new Wuhan hospital China panic-built in 10 days

Feb 5, 2020, 18:32 IST

The first coronavirus patients have been admitted to the Huoshenshan hospital in Wuhan, which was panic-built in just 10 days.

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The emergency medical facility, which has two floors and can hold up to 1,400 beds, was built to relieve hospitals that are already swamped with patients from the epicenter of the virus, which has a population of 11 million.

On Tuesday, the first group of 50 patients was transferred to the new hospital, according to state-run newspaper China Daily.

A second hospital, which is 25 miles away from Huoshenshan and has 1,600 beds, is expected to finish construction on Thursday, according to CGTN.

Sports stadiums, concert halls, and other local venues have also been turned into makeshift hospitals to accommodate the rising number of infected patients. These will hold up to 10,000 patients, according to the Xinhua news agency.

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As of Wednesday, the virus has killed 492 people and infected almost 25,000, according to the South China Morning Post.

After 10 days of construction, the Huoshenshan Hospital in Wuhan was completed.

The hospital is one of two in Wuhan that is being panic-built in an effort to contain the coronavirus epidemic. It was completed on Sunday, February 2.

The makeshift medical facility, which has a capacity of 1,000 beds, was made in response to bed shortages in general hospitals across Wuhan.

A total of 1,400 doctors, nurses, and medical staff have been tasked with treating patients in the hospital. They have been sent by China's People's Liberation Army, according to the state-run Xinhua news agency.

On Tuesday, the first group of 50 patients transferred to the new hospital began treatment.

Videos posted online showed the first patients arriving at the Huoshenshan hospital, according to the state-run China Daily.

They were brought in from three different hospitals across Wuhan, including the Wuchang Hospital and Hankou Hospital.

Meanwhile, the city is scrambling to fill in sports centers, exhibition halls and other venues with over 10,000 beds in an effort to create more makeshift coronavirus hospitals.

The patients were transported by negative pressure isolation ambulances, according to the China Daily.

Negative pressure isolation systems are commonly used to transport infected patients during an epidemic.

Air ambulance isolation systems were also used during the Ebola outbreak in 2018, according to PPS.

Images, obtained by the Associated Press, show medical staff in protective suits pushing people in wheelchairs up a makeshift ramp and into the pre-fabricated structure.

Hubei province, the epicenter of the outbreak, announced Tuesday that coronavirus fatalities there had risen to 414 after 64 new deaths, according to the South China Morning Post.

The virus has killed almost 500 people and infected some 23,000 since it first emerged in December at a market in Wuhan.

The World Health Organization has declared the epidemic a global health emergency, as the first deaths outside of China were confirmed last weekend, according to The Guardian.

The second medical facility — Leishenshan Hospital — is expected to finish on Thursday.

The second hospital will have up to 1,600 beds, according to CGTN.

The construction of the Leishenshan hospital is also being live-streamed on YouTube.

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