New Hospital To Be Built In China's Wuhan In 6 Days To Deal With Coronavirus - Reports

BEIJING (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 24th January, 2020) The authorities in the Chinese city of Wuhan, the origin of the new coronavirus outbreak, are planning to build a new hospital in six days to receive patients affected by the virus, media reported on Thursday.

The Xin Jing Bao newspaper reported that the hospital will be located in the vicinity of Wuhan and plans for it should be prepared by Friday evening. It is currently undecided whether it will be a one or two-story building, but further details are to be revealed soon.

According to the outlet, the local government said that it would use the previous experience of back in 2003 when the Xiaotangshan hospital was built in Beijing to deal with the severe acute respiratory syndrome epidemic.

The unknown type of viral pneumonia was first reported in Wuhan in early January and has since been confirmed by China and the World Health Organization to be a new strain of the coronavirus, currently being labeled as 2019-nCoV or Novel Coronavirus. The virus has also been detected in Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Thailand, South Korea, Japan and the United States. At least 17 people have died, and over 600 have been infected so far.