China is set to start admitting patients in the first of two dedicated coronavirus hospitals that took just eight days to build.
According to state media, the 269,000-square-foot Huoshenshan has 1,000 beds.
A Beijing hospital that was built in 2003 to help tackle the SARS virus served as the template for the design of the new building.
In order to speed up construction, engineers from across the country were reportedly flown in to help.
It is made of prefabricated buildings just like the hospital in Beijing. The facilities can receive supplies from other hospitals or order them direct from factories.
There are reports that the PLA has been put in charge of the facility with 1,400 military medics having been stationed at what is being called “Fire God Mountain” hospital.
The Xinhua news agency, the official mouthpiece of the Chinese government, reported that a lot of the staff already had experience dealing with SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) in 2002-2003.
The government decided to build the two makeshift medical facilities in order to relieve the strain on existing hospitals in Wuhan that are being deluged by patients.
The city of Wuhan, with a population of 11 million people, has been under quarantine for more than one week and there have been complaints of hours-long wait times to see a doctor.
To date, more than 300 people have died with around 14,000 have been infected by the new coronavirus which scientists suspect may have originated at a wild animal market in Wuhan.
“Thunder God Mountain,” the second field hospital, with 1,600 beds, will start accepting patients on February 5.
At the height of the SARS outbreak, around 4,000 people worked non-stop to build the Beijing hospital in seven days.
The World Health Organization has already declared a global emergency due to the spread of the coronavirus.
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