Shanghai turns exhibition halls into temporary hospitals, quarantine centres as Covid-19 infections threaten to overwhelm city
- Two huge exhibition and convention centres in Pudong have been converted into fangcang, a kind of makeshift hospital first used in Wuhan two years ago
- The two centres can accommodate a total of 20,000 patients
Shanghai, which is in the midst of a severe Covid-19 outbreak, is turning the city’s massive exhibition halls into temporary hospitals and quarantine centres as it gears up for an anticipated influx of patients.
China’s commercial and financial capital has converted Shanghai World Expo Exhibition & Convention Centre and Shanghai New International Expo Centre (SNIEC) into fangcang, a kind of makeshift hospital first used during the Covid-19 pandemic in Wuhan two years ago.
They have been designated as quarantine sites to accommodate infected people who either have mild symptoms or are asymptomatic.
Wu Qianyu, a senior official with Shanghai Health Commission, said on Tuesday that the city government was planning to transform more public venues, including exhibition and convention halls and indoor stadiums, into large-scale hospitals that could house thousands of residents infected by the Omicron variant of the coronavirus.
“Covid-19 infections are growing day by day at a rapid pace, ratcheting up pressure on the city’s public health system,” she said. “To date, the city and district-level governments have started operations of a batch of designated quarantine sites, and we are also transforming some big public venues into temporary hospitals.”
She did not name the venues or the number of beds they will accommodate.
Shanghai has reported about 26,000 Covid-19 infections since the current outbreak started in the beginning of March, most of which are asymptomatic. Pudong, to the east of Huangpu River, is currently under a four-day lockdown up to April to contain the outbreak, while Puxi on the western bank will be sealed off from April 1 to 5.