2nd makeshift hospital begins operation in outbreak epicenter

First batch of 35 patients transferred to Leishenshan facility on Saturday night

Leishenshan Hospital, the second makeshift hospital built to combat the novel coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, received its first patients on Saturday and treated about 100 on Sunday.

The first batch of 35 patients was transferred to Leishenshan on Saturday night from two other hospitals in Wuhan, Hubei province, the epicenter of the outbreak, said Wang Xinghuan, head of Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University.

Wang, who is in charge of Leishenshan Hospital, told news portal ThePaper.cn that more patients will be transferred to the hospital, adding that the number of patients being treated reached 90 or 100 as of Sunday.

Some patients who appeared to be in stable condition were able to walk into the wards themselves, China Central Television reported.

The emergency specialty field hospital, which can accommodate 1,600 patients, consists of a medical isolation zone, a living zone for medical staff and a logistics area.

It has 3,300 prefabricated units to be 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 in order to prevent cross infection.

All patient rooms have ultraviolet light to disinfect the supplies delivered, and facilities include air conditioners, internet 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 is now home to the world's best computerized tomography scanner, which can show a clear image of the lung when a patient holds their breath for just four to five seconds.

Devices used in intensive care units, operating rooms, clinical laboratories and other departments have also been installed at the hospital.

Equipment for blood and urine tests installed in the clinical laboratories can examine 300 blood samples and 210 urine samples per hour.

Most operating rooms have been fitted out, with some others still under construction.

Wang said the hospital was currently experiencing a severe shortage of medical staff. A medical team consisting of 1,000 medical staff from Liaoning province was expected to arrive in Wuhan on Sunday to work at Leishenshan, People's Daily reported.

Hubei province reported 2,147 new confirmed cases on Saturday, taking the total to 27,100, and 81 new fatalities, taking the total number of deaths to 780, the Hubei Health Commission said.

Huoshenshan Hospital, the city's first makeshift hospital for treating patients infected with the novel coronavirus, opened its Weibo social media account on Saturday night and attracted nearly 230,000 followers by Sunday.

The account's first message, sent on Saturday, said hello to the public. It received more than 250,000 comments, with the one receiving the most likes being "wish the hospital can be closed as soon as possible".

Built in 10 days, Huoshenshan has 1,000 beds for patients and is staffed by 1,400 medical personnel from the armed forces.

The first batch of patients was transferred to Huoshenshan on Tuesday.

The makeshift Leishenshan (Thunder God Mountain) and Huoshenshan (Fire God Mountain) hospitals replicate the SARS treatment model used in Beijing in 2003.