- The Chinese city of Wuhan is rushing to build a new hospital in just six days to treat patients of the deadly coronavirus.
- Excavation has started at a site in Wuhan, where the outbreak started, and where doctors describe an overwhelmed medical system.
- The city, and at least nine others, have had their public transport links shut off, leaving a total of 30 million people quarantined in a bid to stop the virus from spreading further.
- Wuhan's strategy mirrors Beijing's efforts to control the deadly SARS coronavirus outbreak in 2003, when it built a hospital in just seven days that treated one-seventh of the country's patients.
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The Chinese city of Wuhan is rushing to build a brand-new hospital within six days to treat patients of the coronavirus that has killed at least 26 people across the country and is overwhelming the quarantined city's health system.
The 2019-nCoV virus, which has infected more than 870 people as of Friday morning, originated in Wuhan. China has closed down public transport links in the city and at least nine others, sealing off a total of 30 million people.
Doctors in Wuhan say that people have to queue for hours for medical attention, that screening the disease is difficult, that there is not enough protective gear, and that some doctors were told not to go to work over fears they could catch the virus.
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Wuhan authorities said Friday that a new, 1,000-bed hospital is being built for coronavirus patients to "address the insufficiency of existing medical resources," the Associated Press reported.
Patients with the coronavirus are currently being treated in hospitals and fever clinics across the city.
The new hospital is to be built in six days, and be put to use on February 3, state-run news site The Paper reported, citing state media outlet People's Daily.
The hospital will be made from prefabricated buildings - making it quicker and cheaper to build - on the outskirts of the city, People's Daily reported.
Video footage shows construction machinery working at the site.
The strategy is a repeat of how China dealt with the outbreak of SARS in 2003, which killed more than 770 people.
In April 2003, Beijing built in just seven days the Xiaotangshan Hospital, which People's Daily said treated one-seventh of China's SARS patients at the time.
People's Daily called that hospital "a miracle in the history of medicine."
The ongoing Wuhan coronavirus can spread from human to human, and has already spread to some healthcare workers treating the infected.
It has spread to at least eight other countries: the US, Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Taiwan, Singapore, Vietnam, and Saudi Arabia.
This map shows where it had spread as of Thursday:
These countries have quarantined people who are infected, and are monitoring those who have been in close contact with the infected.
Other countries, including Scotland and Finland, have suspected cases.
Countries around the world are screening passengers in airports for symptoms, and have quarantine procedures in place.
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