Second new Wuhan hospital starts receiving patients

The second makeshift hospital built to accommodate patients suspected of the novel coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan received the first batch of patients on Saturday night.

A total of 30 patients were transferred to Leishenshan Hospital at around 8 pm on Saturday from two hospitals in Wuhan, Hubei province, the epidemic center.

Some patients in a stable condition were able to walk into the wards unassisted, according to the China Central Television.

The makeshift hospital, which can accommodate 1,500 patients, consists of a medical isolation zone, a living zone for medical staff and a logistics area.

It has 3,300 prefabricated units used as patients' rooms in the medical isolation zone, which is the core part of the hospital.

Each unit has been equipped with a cabinet that links the patient room to hallways, which enables medical staff to deliver daily necessities or medical products without the need to enter the room and prevent cross infection.

All patient rooms have ultraviolet light to disinfect the supplies during the delivery. They also have facilities including air conditioners, cables and televisions.

Most of the rooms are depressurized and have a special ventilation system to prevent viruses from spreading out of the hospital.

The hospital now owns the world best computed tomography scan device, which can show clear image of the lung as the patient holds the breath for only four to five seconds.

Devices used in intensive care units, operating rooms, clinical laboratories as well as other departments were already transported to the hospital and have been installed.

Most operation rooms are ready while others are still under final construction.

Equipment for blood and urine tests, for example, was already installed in the clinical laboratories and will able to examine 300 blood samples and 210 urine samples per hour.