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  • (gentle music)

  • - If you've been following how Wuhan

  • has been dealing with the coronavirus break,

  • you may have noticed impressive footage

  • of hospitals being built in record time.

  • Construction started in late January,

  • and the government said hospitals would be ready

  • by early February.

  • Tens of thousands of state-owned employees

  • as well as military personnel

  • have poured into the city.

  • They are in a race to pull off this task.

  • In under two weeks,

  • one of the hospitals was declared completed

  • and began admitting patients.

  • But if you look at that same shot from another angle,

  • you can still see construction being carried out

  • behind this blue fence.

  • (Ma Zhuang speaking in foreign language)

  • - On Wednesday, I visited Leishenshan Hospital,

  • or Mount Thunder God.

  • It's one of two emergency hospitals being built from scratch

  • on the city's outskirts.

  • One report from the Communist Party mouthpiece

  • People's Daily said this hospital would open on Wednesday

  • to receive patients.

  • To be sure, construction has been very fast.

  • But the day the doors were supposed to open,

  • it was far from finished.

  • One worker said they had just finished

  • the foundations of the site.

  • Chinese media reports later said the hospital

  • was still under construction.

  • To further alleviate patient overflow,

  • the Wuhan government is repurposing existing buildings.

  • Wuhan Salon is a convention center

  • that's being turned into a hospital.

  • With 2,000 beds, it is one of the largest.

  • Again, Chinese state media said this place

  • was ready to receive patients on Tuesday night.

  • But when I went, there were puddles of water on the floor,

  • workers were still fitting out beds,

  • wiring of electricity and sweeping away trash.

  • Conditions at the new hospitals look pretty Spartan,

  • and it's not clear how authorities will ensure

  • proper isolation of individuals.

  • At Wuhan Salon, patients will have to go outside

  • to use portable toilets and showers.

  • These facilities will help take the burden off

  • of the city's overwhelmed hospitals,

  • but it is unclear how soon they can accommodate

  • a large number of patients.

  • (Wang Chen speaking in foreign language)

  • (gentle music)

(gentle music)

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