China coronavirus: safe drugs available but questions about effectiveness, Sars expert says as death toll rises to 41 on mainland
- More than 1,300 confirmed cases across mainland China
- Second temporary hospital to be built in Wuhan, at the heart of the outbreak
“If affected patients are quarantined in time, patient numbers in the latter stage will decline greatly,” he was quoted as saying.
On Saturday, as the number of confirmed cases on the mainland surpassed 1,300, Wuhan health authorities said a second temporary hospital, to be known as Leishenshan, would be built in the city within two weeks, creating 1,300 extra beds to treat patients with the coronavirus, Shanghai-based news outlet The Paper reported. Construction is under way on Huoshenshan, the first temporary facility, and is expected to be completed by February 3, with a capacity for 1,000 patients.
Qinghai province in northwest China confirmed its first case of coronavirus on Saturday, leaving the Tibet Autonomous Region is the only remaining major administrative area in the country with no suspected or confirmed cases.
Qinghai – along with Ningxia – also became the latest of 28 administrative regions to activate a top-level public health emergency response to the outbreak, meaning public events, businesses and schools can be suspended and the migrant population quarantined in these areas.