Footage shows rapid construction of new Wuhan hospital

China is rushing to build a new hospital in a staggering 10 days to treat patients with coronavirus, with workers collapsing from exhaustion.

An emergency facility in Huanggang, an hour’s drive from the coronavirus epicentre of Wuhan, has opened after workers and volunteers spent just two days converting an empty building into a 1,000 bed facility.

According to local media, the first batch of coronavirus patients were transferred to the Dabie Mountain Regional Medical Centre at around 10:30pm local time today.

The building, originally intended as a new branch of Huanggang Central Hospital and expected to open in May, was converted into a coronavirus treatment facility within 48 hours thanks to the efforts of staff from construction firms, utility companies and paramilitary police officers.

In Wuhan, Chinese state media are livestreaming footage of the construction of a 1000-bed hospital that is being built in a bid to contain and treat patients suspected of contracting coronavirus.

RELATED: Chilling new infections from virus

The rapidly spreading virus, which is transmitted from human to human, has killed more than 100 people, and upwards of 4500 cases of the disease have been confirmed.

The city of Wuhan, home to 11 million people in the province of Hubei, has been confirmed as the epicentre of the deadly outbreak, and the government are attempting to finish construction on the first of two hospitals to treat those who are infected.

Named Wuhan Huoshenshan Hospital, the 25,000 square metre facility is being built in the Caidian District in the west of the city using prefabricated elements, and is expected to open before February 5, 10 days after construction began.

“It’s basically a quarantined hospital where they send people with infectious diseases so it has the safety and protective gear in place,” lecturer in global health and social medicine at Harvard Medical School, Joan Kaufman, told BBC.

RELATED: Australia’s new China travel warning

Construction workers rest on building materials as new hospitals are built to tackle the coronavirus on January 28. Picture: Getty Images

Hundreds of construction workers and heavy machinery at the site of Huoshenshan Hospital in Wuhan on January 28. Picture: Getty Images

Workers carry construction material at Huoshenshan hospital. Picture: Getty Images

Its design is reportedly based on the Xiaotangshan Hospital that was built within a week in Beijing during the SARS outbreak in 2003.

“China has a record of getting things done fast even for monumental projects like this,” senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations, Yanzhong Huang, said, adding that the construction team were probably attempting to beat Beijing’s record of building a hospital in seven days.

“This authoritarian country relies on this top down mobilisation approach. They can overcome bureaucratic nature and financial constraints and are able to mobilise all the resources,” he said.

RELATED: Map shows horror spread of virus

This aerial photo shows excavators and trucks at the construction site of a new hospital being built to treat patients from a deadly virus outbreak in Wuhan. Picture: Hector Retamal/AFP

Mr Huang said that engineers would be brought in from across the country in order to complete construction in time.

“The engineering work is what China is good at. They have records of building skyscrapers at speed. This is very hard for westerners to imagine. It can be done.”

In terms of medical supplies, Wuhan can either take supplies from other hospitals or can easily order them from factories.

The government is also building a second, larger facility in Wuhan which will be called the Leishenshan Hospital, expected to open in 15 days.

A second, bigger hospital is set to open in the next 15 days. Picture: Hector Retamal/AFP

Construction workers guide a crane at the site of Huoshenshan hospital. Picture: Getty Images

Five million people fled the city ahead of last Thursday, when authorities placed it into lockdown, leaving nine million behind.

Roads are empty, prices of groceries are surging, and inhabitants are wondering how long they need to stay in their apartments.

Increasingly drastic anti-disease efforts began on January 22 when plane, train and bus links to Wuhan were suspended. Later, most private cars were banned from the roads.

That lockdown has since expanded to 17 cities and more than 50 million people, in the most far-reaching disease-control measures ever imposed.