The city of Wuhan, the ground zero of the novel coronavirus outbreak, has begun the construction of a hospital, which is slated to be finished in less than 10 days, to treat patients inflicted with and suspected to have contracted the deadly virus, state-run Xinhua News Agency reported Saturday.
This, as President Xi Jinping warned that the country is on the verge of a “grave situation” that needs to be addressed the soonest time possible.
The construction of the hospital in the Caidian District of western suburb of Wuhan is aimed to have enough space for 1,000 patients.
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A video posted Saturday by the state media shows dozens of bulldozers digging at the hospital site in Wuhan, a city with nearly 11 million residents.
The video said “[A] second makeshift hospital will be put into use within half a month.”
The Xiaotangshan facility, the hospital built in just seven days during the height of the SARS outbreak in 2003, will be the template of this hospital in Wuhan, it said.
As of this posting, the novel coronavirus has already claimed 41 lives, with at least 1,287 confirmed cases.
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Confirmed cases were also reported in Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Thailand, Japan,South Korea, the United States, Vietnam, Singapore, Nepal and France.
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Watch the video of the hospital construction below:
