China opens hospital it built within just 10 days (video)

 February 3, 2020 - 11:29 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - China sent medical workers and equipment to a newly built hospital constructed within just 10 days, infused cash into financial markets and further restricted people’s movement in sweeping new steps Monday, February 3, to contain a rapidly spreading virus and its escalating impact, The Associated Press reports.

China’s updated figures of 361 deaths and 2,829 new cases over the last 24 hours, bringing the Chinese total to 17,205 cases, come as other countries continued evacuating citizens from hardest-hit Hubei province and restricted travel by Chinese or people who recently traveled in the country. The World Health Organization said the number of cases will keep growing because tests are pending on thousands of suspected cases.

Reopening of schools was also delayed to keep the virus from spreading further in Hubei, where the 1,000-bed hospital in the provincial capital Wuhan was completed in just 10 days. A second hospital with 1,500 beds will open within days. Restrictions were tightened still further in one city by allowing only one family member to venture out to buy supplies every other day.

Medical teams from the People’s Liberation Army were arriving in Wuhan to relieve overwhelmed health workers and to work at the new hospital, located in the countryside far from the city center. Its prefabricated wards, where patients began arriving by late morning, are equipped with state-of-the-art medical equipment and ventilation systems.

Leading Chinese epidemiologist Zhong Nanshan said additional hospital space was crucial to stopping the spread of new infections.

“The lack of hospital rooms forced sick people to return home, which is extremely dangerous. So having additional (beds) available is a great improvement,” Zhong told state broadcaster CCTV.

Zhong played a major role in overcoming China’s 2002-2003 outbreak of SARS, a coronavirus from the same family as the current pathogen.

In a sign of the economic toll of the outbreak, China’s Shanghai Composite index plunged 8.7% when it reopened Monday following the Lunar New Year holiday. It steadied later on the central bank’s moves to inject cash.

“We are fully confident in and capable of minimizing the epidemic’s impact on economy,” said Lian Weiliang, deputy chief of the National Development and Reform Commission, at a news conference in Beijing.