The Chinese city of Wuhan, the centre of the coronavirus outbreak, has begun the ambitious task of building a 1,000-bed hospital in just 10 days to treat victims of the epidemic.

To speed construction, the hospital is being built with prefabricated buildings around a holiday complex originally intended for local workers, set in gardens by a lake on the outskirts of the city.

Although the timescale is ambitious, China has form for constructing hospitals at short notice in response to major health crises. In 2003, during the Sars outbreak 7,000 workers in Beijing built the Xiaotangshan hospital in the northern suburbs in just a week. Wuhan authorities said the Xiaotangshan hospital, also built using prefabricated buildings, was the template for the new facility in Wuhan, being built on a 25,000 sq metre site.

Quick guide What are coronavirus symptoms and should I go to a doctor? Show Hide What is Covid-19? Covid-19 is caused by a member of the coronavirus family that has never been encountered before. Like other coronaviruses, it has come from animals. The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared it a pandemic. What are the symptoms this coronavirus causes? According to the WHO, the most common symptoms of Covid-19 are fever, tiredness and a dry cough. Some patients may also have a runny nose, sore throat, nasal congestion and aches and pains or diarrhoea. Some people report losing their sense of taste and/or smell. About 80% of people who get Covid-19 experience a mild case – about as serious as a regular cold – and recover without needing any special treatment. About one in six people, the WHO says, become seriously ill. The elderly and people with underlying medical problems like high blood pressure, heart problems or diabetes, or chronic respiratory conditions, are at a greater risk of serious illness from Covid-19. In the UK, the National health Service (NHS) has identified the specific symptoms to look for as experiencing either: a high temperature - you feel hot to touch on your chest or back

a new continuous cough - this means you’ve started coughing repeatedly As this is viral pneumonia, antibiotics are of no use. The antiviral drugs we have against flu will not work, and there is currently no vaccine. Recovery depends on the strength of the immune system. Should I go to the doctor if I have a cough? Medical advice varies around the world - with many countries imposing travel bans and lockdowns to try and prevent the spread of the virus. In many place people are being told to stay at home rather than visit a doctor of hospital in person. Check with your local authorities. In the UK, NHS advice is that anyone with symptoms should stay at home for at least 7 days. If you live with other people, they should stay at home for at least 14 days, to avoid spreading the infection outside the home.

The hospital in the Chinese capital featured individual isolation units that looked like rows of tiny cabins. Within two months, it treated a seventh of all the country’s Sars patients, the Changjiang Daily said, describing it as “a miracle in the history of medical science”. The facility closed less than two months after it was judged that a decisive victory had been won against Sars in China.

Building machinery, including 35 diggers and 10 bulldozers, arrived at the Wuhan site on Thursday night, with the aim of getting the new facility ready by Monday 3 February, state media reported. Earlier reports had suggested the hospital would be completed in under a week.

China State Construction Engineering, one of the companies building the hospital, said on Friday it had more than 100 workers on the site.

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Images on state television showed a flurry of activity at the muddy site with dozens of diggers painted in various colours hard at work preparing the ground, as a stream of trucks ferried in materials and equipment.

Using temporary buildings not only facilitates swift construction but it also keeps the cost down.

Xinhua said the new facility was aimed at “alleviating the shortage of medical treatment resources and improving the ability to care for patients”.

Construction in Wuhan began as reports surfaced of bed shortages in hospitals designated for dealing with the outbreak, which has infected 830 people across China and killed 26. People who sought treatment in the city this week told the Guardian they had been turned away from hospitals, which have been inundated with patients. Facilities are reportedly running out of beds and diagnostic kits for patients who present with fever-like symptoms. At least eight hospitals in Wuhan issued public calls for donations of masks, googles, gowns and other protective medical gear, according to notices online.

Administrators at Wuhan university people’s hospital set up a group chat on the popular WeChat messaging app to coordinate donations.

Sars, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, killed 349 people in mainland China and 299 in Hong Kong in 2002-2003.