Wuhan to convert gym, exhibition centre into temporary hospitals

The Chinese city of Wuhan, the epicentre of the fast-spreading coronavirus outbreak, has planned to convert three existing venues, including a gymnasium and an exhibition centre, into hospitals to receive more patients as the death toll in the Asian giant due to the disease increased to 425.

The Hongshan Gymnasium, Wuhan International Conference and Exhibition Centre and a cultural building complex dubbed "Wuhan Livingroom" will be turned into hospitals with a total of 3,400 beds, Xinhua news agency reported citing officials as saying.

The sites, located in the districts of Jianghan, Wuchang and Dongxihu, will take in patients with mild symptoms caused by the coronavirus.

The hospitals will serve as temporary medical sites with functions of emergency treatment and clinical testing.

Conversion work started late Monday, and by Tuesday morning, hundreds of beds were already in place, the officials said.

Meanwhile, the newly-built Huoshenshan hospital, one of two planned makeshift hospitals in Wuhan, began accepting patients on Tuesday.

The Huoshenshan hospital was completed on Sunday after 10-days of construction.

Local TV reports said that 1,400 Chinese army medical staff, some with experience of infectious diseases, were being transferred to the Huoshenshan.

The second hospital at Leishenshan is due to be completed on Wednesday.

As of Tuesday, the toll in China rose to 425, with 20,438 infected cases.

The National Health Commission said that 221,015 close contacts had been traced, adding that among them, 12,755 were discharged on Monday, with 171,329 others were still under medical observation.