Three hospitals added in Guangzhou to focus on COVID-19

Three more hospitals were put into operation for treatment of COVID-19 infections in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, as infections continued to rise across the city.

The Guangdong Second Provincial General Hospital, the Lingnan Hospital of the Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University and the Baiyun sub-hospital of Nanfang Hospital, affiliated with Southern Medical University, are designated to treat infected people with relatively severe conditions, according to sources at the hospitals.

Senior residents, children and pregnant women infected with the COVID-19 virus will be channeled to the three facilities for treatment.

At a news conference on Tuesday, Zhang Yi, spokeswoman for the Guangzhou health commission, said more medical resources at all levels, including designated, secondary and makeshift hospitals, would be optimized and put into operation, as the number of new infections increased significantly across the city over the past few days.

Earlier, COVID-19 patients in common, severe and critical condition in the city were sent to the designated Guangzhou Eighth People's Hospital for treatment.

"Construction of makeshift hospitals will be facilitated to boost treatment capacity for COVID-19 infections," she said.

As of Monday, the city had opened six makeshift hospitals, providing more than 20,000 beds. More than 4,000 medical workers were assisting in treatments, mainly for asymptomatic carriers, Zhang said.

The official tally from the local health authority showed that the city reported 158 locally transmitted confirmed cases and 6,138 asymptomatic carriers on Tuesday, a record high since the latest outbreak began on Oct 22.