Coronavirus: China Builds Hospital In Six Days As Disease Spreads

By Uche Mbah

The Chinese authorities are building a special quarantine hospital within six days-with all the laboratory and surgical equipment in place-to cater for coronavirus patients just as the disease spreads to more countries of the world, Chinese authorities say.

The United states, however, is sending a chartered flight to China to evacuate her diplomats and citizens while confirming a second case of the virus. France has already acknowledged two cases. Over 2000 patients have been confirmed in china with over 55 dead. There are currently more than 60 cases in over twelve countries of the world.

The World Health Organization has refused to grant it international epidermic status-the same dithering it was observed to have done when Ebola broke out in 2014, when it took eight months to make a declaration. By then, the disease has already killed 11000 people and become endemic in many African countries.

As it is, China is facing mask shortage and has to order mask producing companies to recall all workers on new year holiday for increased production while the holiday itself has been marred by city lock downs and movement restrictions. This has also affected the supply of masks in Hong Kong-another country affected by the virus-since they import their mask from China.

Since the outbreak of the disease, hospitals in Wunam has been overstretched, necessitating the need for a special hospital. According to state media, the hospital will accommodate 1000 patients in a 25000 square meters of land.

This is not the first time China will build a quick-fix hospital to tackle an emergency. They did the same thing to tackle SARS. That one, built in Beinjig in 2003, took seven days.

Already state media have diggers at the marked area at work, and Chinese authorities are confident it will be completed and equipped on schedule. The thousands of workers are expected to work everyday and every night to beat the deadline.

China has a record of building skyscrapers at record speed.