Chinese officials have assembled a hospital in just 10 days in response to a new virus that has claimed the lives of at least 427 people and spread abroad to more than 25 countries, including the United States.
The New York Times reports that a new hospital in Wuhan, a city in central China at the heart of the outbreak, which 11 million inhabitants have been barred from leaving, took its first patient affected by the virus on Monday. The hospital holds 1,000 beds and was built in just 10 days. A second facility expected to hold 1,600 beds will be open by February 5 (today).
A similar facility was constructed in Beijing in 2003 in response to the SARS outbreak and is currently being renovated— the government has not said whether it will be used to treat new coronavirus patients. Though the Chinese government was able to build the new hospitals quickly, at least one question remains: whether it will be able to staff the facilities and adequately treat patients as the virus continues to spread.