China sends isolation rooms to S. Korea

Fifteen negative pressure isolation rooms designed and preassembled by a Chinese manufacturing enterprise are being delivered to South Korea to help the country quickly receive patients with novel coronavirus pneumonia and effectively fight the outbreak.

The delivery follows a contract between Broad Sustainable Built Technology, a subsidiary of the Broad Group in Changsha, Hunan province, and the Seoul National University College of Medicine, to help Korean people better adapt hospitals for treating novel coronavirus infections, according to the enterprise.

It said the first batch of isolation rooms with a capacity of 24 beds is expected to be packaged and sent to Mungyeong, South Korea, from Shanghai on Wednesday, and that the second and third batches with a total capacity of 500 beds are slated to be produced in April and delivered to Seoul and Pusan.

Negative pressure isolation rooms are designed to keep the air circulating for patients with contagious diseases who are confined in them.

"In simple terms, the negative pressure isolation room can play a bigger role in the fight against the novel coronavirus outbreak, as the isolation technique can mostly purify and filter air in a space to prevent cross-contamination among patients and guarantee the safety of medical workers," Yang Guangyao, vice-president of Broad Group who also leads the subsidiary, said on Monday.

He told China Daily the room, developed by the company, has worked well in several public places across the country, including hospitals, hotels, airports and subways.

"Sending such rooms to areas where the epidemic is rampant and where demand for beds is great is what we should do," he added.

Qing Lin, who heads production of the rooms at Broad Sustainable Built Technology, said it takes workers one day to unpack and assemble a room and an additional day for them to adjust the systems inside before it can be put into operation.

Zhang Xianming, manager of Broad Core Digital Technology, the group's other subsidiary, compared assembly to building blocks.

"Workers can combine or overlay rooms flexibly on the existing base to add beds to further meet local demand for medical treatment," he explained.

Broad Group said it has donated more than 600 air purifiers to more than 60 hospitals designated to treat novel coronavirus pneumonia patients across China, including Huoshenshan and Leishenshan, two hospitals built in Wuhan, Hubei province, where the coronavirus hit hardest.

"We're all stepping up production, and we'd like to preassemble the rooms in containers and deliver them anywhere they are needed as quickly as we can," Qing added.

Feng Zhiwei contributed to this story.