'Beds wait for patients' in Wuhan's temporary hospitals

A temporary hospital in Qiaokou district of Wuhan, the epicenter of the novel coronavirus outbreak in central China's Hubei Province, suspended operation on March 1 after all its patients were either discharged or moved to other hospitals.

It became the first temporary hospital among the 16 of its kind in the city to stop receiving coronavirus patients, local media Changjiang Daily reported.

A total of 34 patients were discharged from the temporary hospital last Sunday and another 76 patients will be transferred to two other medical units. The recovered patients can go home after a 14-day quarantine at a designated place.

Qiaokou temporary hospital started admitting patients from February 11. Since then, it has received 330 patients. 232 of them have been discharged from hospital.

The Jianghan temporary hospital, which has the most beds in Wuhan, has discharged a total of over 1,000 people as of March 1, according to local authorities.

The hospital, converted from Wuhan International Conference and Exhibition Center, started receiving patients from February 5. It is equipped with 1,564 beds and over 1,100 staff, according to the provincial epidemic prevention and control headquarters.

The hospital has received a total of 1,830 patients, the most in temporary hospitals in Wuhan, by the end of February 29, and a total of 1,072 patients have been discharged from the hospital as of March 1, the headquarters said.

As of February 29, Wuhan has over 7,255 spare beds in its 16 temporary hospitals which have a total of more than 13,467 beds, according to CCTV's report.

National Health Commission Director Ma Xiaowei said last week during a press conference that they have achieved "zero infection, zero deaths and zero returns" in temporary hospitals.

All designated hospitals, temporary hospitals and quarantine spots in the city have achieved "beds waiting for patients," CCTV reported last Sunday.

Wuhan will continue to move patients of temporary hospitals to designated hospitals for earlier treatments, aiming to prevent development of patients with mild symptoms to critically ill.