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Thursday, January 30, 2020

China constructs specialised hospital for Coronavirus patients in record speed


The Wuchang Uprising was an armed rebellion against the ruling Qing dynasty that took place in Wuchang, Hubei, China on 10 Oct 1911, which was the beginning of the Xinhai Revolution that successfully overthrew China's last imperial dynasty. The uprising and the eventual revolution directly led to the downfall of the Qing dynasty with five millennia of imperial rule, and the establishment of the Republic of China (ROC), which commemorates the anniversary of the uprising's starting date of 10 October as the National Day of the Republic of China. On that day, the  New Army stationed in Wuchang launched an assault on the residence of the Viceroy of Huguang. The viceroy Ruicheng quickly fled from the residence, and the revolutionaries soon took control of the entire city.

The city - Wuhan is the capital of Hubei province, People's Republic of China. It is the largest city in Hubei and the most populous city in Central China. The name "Wuhan" came from the city's historical origin from the conglomeration of Wuchang, Hankou and Hanyang, which are collectively known as the "Three Towns of Wuhan".  It lies in the eastern Jianghan Plain, on the confluence of the Yangtze River and its largest tributary, the Han River, and is known as "China's Thoroughfare".  This place has garnered global attention albeit for wrong reasons.

Wuhan today is considered the political, economic, financial, commercial, cultural and educational center of Central China. It is a major transportation hub, with dozens of railways, roads and expressways passing through the city and connecting to other major cities. The "Golden Waterway" of the Yangtze River and its largest tributary, the Han River, traverse the urban area and divides Wuhan into the three districts of Wuchang, Hankou and Hanyang. The Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge crosses the Yangtze in the city. The Three Gorges Dam, the world's largest power station in terms of installed capacity, is located nearby.

For the millions of residents trapped in an unprecedented lockdown in Wuhan, the epicenter of China's deadly coronavirus outbreak, life has not been easy -- but some are trying to make the best of a bad situation. The city of 11 million people in central China's Hubei province has been in lockdown for almost one week as Chinese authorities struggle to contain the spread of the deadly new coronavirus that has killed at least 170 people and sickened more than 7,700. Flights, trains and buses leaving Wuhan have been cancelled, highways out of the city blocked and all intra-city public transports suspended. On Sunday, the city even banned private vehicles from the roads to discourage people from moving around.

This is no post on the Coronavirus, its death or the struggle of people – but on the Govt initiative in handling the epidemic – the building of a hospital.  China's first coronavirus hospital was opened  after workers and volunteers spent two days converting an empty building to a 1,000-bed medical centre.  It is proudly proclaimed that the  emergency facility in Huanggang city was up and running in 48 hours.  Serving the purpose of its built, a  batch of coronavirus patients were transferred there immediately.  It is stated that three more such hospitals are being built, two in Wuhan and one in Zhengzhou, even as the death toll of the life-threatening infection has soared to easily more than 100. The facility known as Dabie Mountain Regional Medical Centre is the first dedicated coronavirus hospital, constructed in a city near Wuhan is a 1000 bed emergency facility, built-up by  workers and volunteers in  just two days converting an empty building.

A handout from the Huanggang government claimed that it was put up in 48 hours showing workers from the city's electricity company working to connect the building to the grid so it can treat coronavirus patients.  Within a very short span of time,  all of the beds had been set up by volunteers, and water, electricity and internet had also been connected, according to the government of Huanggang.  All of the coronavirus hospitals are modelled on a temporary medical centre, which was built in Beijing in seven days to tackle SARS in 2003 and treated one-seventh of the country's SARS patient in the space of two months. In a picture put-up,  dozens of diggers could be seen working overtime to build the six-acre coronavirus hospital in the Caidian District in the western suburb of Wuhan, China.

Wuhan, which is ravaged by a deadly new virus, had vowed to build a special, 1,000-bed hospital in less than a week to fight an outbreak.  More than 500 workers and a dozen heavy vehicles worked two days and nights in order to complete the task on time.  Situated 75 kilometres (46.6 miles) south-west of Wuhan, Huanggang has a population of around 7.5 million and is one of the cities that have been hit by the coronavirus the hardest.  The Wuhan authorities instructed four construction companies to toil through the Chinese New Year holiday in order to complete the urgent task.

Although the Huanggang coronavirus hospital was the first to open, it was not the first to be planned. The government of Wuhan announced last Thursday that they would build a coronavirus hospital in a week. There are at least four of such facilities completed or being completed in the country. The coronavirus epidemic has killed at least 106 people - all in China - and sickened more than 4,592 worldwide. The intensifying health crisis has led the authorities to quarantine at least 56 million people living in central China's Hubei Province. China's central government has sent around 6,000 doctors to Wuhan from across the nation to help the city deal with the outbreak.

With the whole World watching them and with news of affected persons spreading,  China is maintaining a solid front – President Xi Jinping said the nation would 'win the battle against the devil virus' and a Chinese scientist said he thinks the outbreak and the 'battle of Wuhan' will peak in 10 days' time.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar
30th Jan 2020.


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