Huoshenshan Hospital is a field hospital built to treat coronavirus patients in Wuhan, China.

On January 23, the Chinese Office of Health Emergency confirmed more than 500 cases of patients infected with the new coronavirus in China. The death toll from the virus (病毒 bìng dú), as of that day, had risen to 17, all from Hubei province. That evening, with rainy sky and less than 10 Celsius temperature in Wuhan, excavators (挖掘机 wā jué jī) started construction of a new hospital (医院 yī yuàn), built to treat coronavirus patients.

Wuhan is a city with a population of 11 million people. It has many hospitals and clinics available, but as the virus continues to spread, they have been flooded with patients (患者 huàn zhě). Pictures and stories from the quarantined city depict long queues of people waiting outside the hospitals, ambulances (救护车 jiù hù chē) constantly bringing people in, and a very busy medical stuff short on equipment, beds, and isolation rooms. You can see all this as reported in the next video:

武汉医院人满为患。

Wǔhàn yī yuàn rén mǎn wéi huàn.

Wuhan hospitals are overcrowded.

武汉汉口医院被挤爆，医务人员忙翻天。

Wǔhàn Hànkǒu yī yuàn bèi jǐ bào, yī wù rényuán máng fān tiān.

Wuhan Hankou Hospital was crowded, and the medical staff were crazy busy.

On January 23, Wuhan authorities announced building (兴建 xīng jiàn) a temporary (临时 lín shí) hospital. The 1,000-bed (床位 chuáng wèi) complex, they pledged, will be done in ten days. Work on the ground began immediately after the announcement, and continued even during the Chinese New Year Eve celebrated the next day. Around-the-clock construction of the specialized hospital (专门医院 zhuān mén yī yuàn) has been live-streaming, and millions watch. The time lapse video of the construction is fascinating:

On February 2nd, Huoshenshan Hospital (火神山医院 huǒ shén shān yī yuàn) was completed. In a short ceremony, the mayor of Wuhan and the deputy commander of the support unit of the army, both wearing masks, signed a transfer document, marking the official delivery of the field hospital (战地医院 zhàn dì yī yuàn) to the army. The medical staff of Huoshenshan Hospital comes from different units in the army, and the hospital treats only diagnosed (确诊 què zhěn) patients

2月2日，大年初九，火神山医院工程完工。

2 yuè 2 rì, dà nián chū jiǔ, Huǒshénshān yī yuàn gōng chéng wán gōng.

On February 2, the 9th day of the New Year, the Huoshenshan Hospital project was completed.

火神山2月3日正式收治病人。

Huǒshénshān 2 yuè 3 rì zhèng shì shōu zhì bìng rén.

On February 3, Huoshenshan formally admitted patients.

Huoshenshan Hospital is based on a similar hospital set up in Beijing in 2003. Assembled in only a week, Xiaotangshan Hospital was built during the SARS epidemic, and is now being renovated in a bid to contain the outbreak of the coronavirus. Another emergency specialty hospital was also built in Wuhan. Leishenshan Hospital was completed in less than two weeks and will be able to accommodate 1,600 patients

 

Text vocabulary

病毒 bìng dú = virus

挖掘机 wā jué jī = excavators

医院 yī yuàn = hospital

患者 huàn zhě = patient

救护车 jiù hù chē = ambulance

人满为患 rén mǎn wéi huàn = be overcrowded

兴建 xīng jiàn = to built, to construct

临时 lín shí = temporary

临时医院 lín shí yī yuàn = temporary hospital

床位 chuáng wèi = bed

专门 zhuān mén = specialized, customized

战地医院 zhàn dì yī yuàn = field hospital

确诊 què zhěn = to diagnose

病人 bìng rén = patient

 

大家都健康平安！

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