Chinese government is taking all the desperate measures to somehow contain the deadly virus
China is making a 1,000 bedded makeshift hospital, in a duration of 6 days, in Wuhan to treat the patients infected with Coronavirus.
Hundreds of workers have been deployed to complete the hospital. The authorities are paying the workers 1,200 Yuan (U.S. $ 173) per day, which is 3 times of their usual wage.
As of Friday, January 24, 2020, 26 people have died and 875 have been infected. The United States (U.S.), Japan, South Korea, Vietnam and Thailand, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan have also reported cases of coronavirus.
The new hospital will be built on an area of 25,000 sq. mts. The hospital will be made up of more than 20 prefabricated blocks, 1-2 floors high. Building machinery, including 35 diggers and 10 bulldozers, have already arrived at the site. China Construction Third Engineering Bureau (CCTEB) has started to flatten the ground while designers from Citic Pacific Properties are working on the blueprint. The hospital is meant to solve the shortage of existing medical resources. Because it will be prefabricated buildings, it will not only be built fast, but it also won’t cost much.
People are complaining that they have been turned down by hospitals due to lack of beds. The hospitals are packed with patients and there are limited screening facilities in the city.
The Wuhan Municipal Health Commission has accepted the fact that there is paucity of beds in the hospitals and there is a long queue of patients in hospitals. It also said that 7 hospitals will now be used solely for fever patients and more than 3,000 beds will be made available for suspected and confirmed cases of the virus.
For the records, last time China made such a hospital was in 2003 when there was widespread Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). It was built in Xiaotangshan town in Beijing’s Changping District. That facility was taken over by the People’s Liberation Army and operated as a “PLA SARS Hospital” with 1,000 beds. Almost 1% of SARS patients from across China were treated at that hospital over 2 months.
As a preventive measure China has urged the people to stay at home for the next 14 days. Lockdown has been imposed across cities in China. Public transport and hangout-joints have also been closed. Shanghai Disney Resort has also issued a notification stating it will remain close from Saturday, January 25, 2020. AirAsia, one of the leading regional airlines in Asia, has cancelled all its today’s flights to and from Wuhan.
A statement from AirAsia read, “The move is meant to assist in controlling the current Wuhan novel coronavirus outbreak situation and comply with Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) requirements.”
The weeklong Lunar New Year holiday, which begins today, has triggered fears that outbreak could quickly accelerate, as hundreds of millions of people travel across the country to visit friends and relatives. The celebrations will be considerably smaller in China than in previous years, as authorities move to cancel many large public gatherings in order to help contain the Wuhan coronavirus. As a safety measure, the authorities have also cancelled the traditional temple fairs.
