China rushes to build new hospital as coronavirus grips nation, 26 dead

Wuhan : China will be building a new hospital within 10 days in order to provide treatment to the patients of deadly coronavirus that has gripped the nation and has killed at least 26 people on record.

The new facility in the central city of Wuhan is likely to get operational by February 3. 

More than a dozen excavators and trucks have been captured working on the site by a state broadcaster CCTV. 

The hospital is likely to have a bed capacity of around 1,000 beds spread over 25,000 square meters, the official Xinhua news agency said.

The construction of the building started as soon as the reports of shortage of beds in the hospital came to light. Nearly 830 people have been diagnosed positive to the virus in China. 

Xinhua said the new facility is aimed at "alleviating the shortage of medical treatment resources and improving the ability to care for patients".

In 2003 China erected a hospital on Beijing's rural outskirts in barely a week to cater to a rapidly rising number of patients suffering from SARS, or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, which killed 349 people in mainland China and 299 in Hong Kong in 2002-2003.

The hospital facility will take inspiration from the Xiaotangshan Hospital which had prefabricated structures.

Amid the outbreak, authorities have imposed travel restriction and cancellation of public events in at least eight Chinese cities. 

State broadcaster CCTV reported Friday that 40 military doctors were being brought in to help with intensive care at the Wuhan Pulmonary Hospital.