The Hongshan Gymnasium in Wuhan city, central China's Hubei Province, has been turned into a temporary hospital to receive patients infected with the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV), Feb. 4, 2020. (Xinhua/Xiong Qi)

Wuhan is building three temporary hospitals in a local gymnasium, an exhibition center and a building complex to expand its capacity for receiving and treating patients infected with the novel coronavirus. 

The hospitals have been named Fangcang, meaning a field hospital with a square cabin, which is a modular health unit with emergency treatment, surgical treatment, clinical testing and other facilities.

The Wuhan international convention center, Hongshan Stadium and a cultural building complex called "Wuhan living room" will be converted into temporary hospitals with a total capacity of 3,400 beds to treat coronavirus patients in mild condition.

The temporary hospitals will be equipped with beddings, tables and chairs, electric blankets and other essentials.

If the patient's conditions become worse, they will be transferred to the other designated hospitals for further treatment, officials said.

More than 1,000 beds have been in place in the convention center with at least 500 workers on site starting 3 am on Tuesday, the National Business Daily reported. 

Beds will be managed separately in divided units. At Wuhan international convention center, every unit with 50 beds is managed by one doctor and one nurse. 

Despite the partition between units, having patients stay in a common space without isolation sparked concerns about the privacy and risks of cross-infection.

A biggest challenge for the hospitals' construction is how to effectively isolate the epidemic, Pan Zhenyu, director of Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, told Yangtze Daily on Tuesday. 

"The roof of the Hongshan Stadium is high, which makes it difficult to install ventilation and sewage facilities at the venue," Pan noted.

Conversion work started on late Monday under the order issued by Wuhan's headquarters for epidemic control. 

The National Health Commission said on Tuesday that 20 Fangcang, or cabin hospitals, across the country will be assembled in Wuhan to ease the bed shortage. Some 1,400 nurses were dispatched to Wuhan to take care of patients at all the Fangcang hospitals. 

Wuhan's first makeshift hospital special for coronavirus patients in serious conditions, Huoshenshan, received its first 50 patients on Tuesday morning. Leishenshan, another makeshift hospital, is expected to be completed on Wednesday.  

As of Monday midnight, 13,522 cases of the novel coronavirus had been confirmed in Central China's Hubei Province, with 6,384 confirmed cases coming from Wuhan.

Global Times