WUHAN, China — People desperate for treatment started descending on a new hospital that was mostly built in just 10 days to help cope with the outbreak of the new coronavirus in the central city of Wuhan on Monday.

Construction workers in hard hats, medical staff in hazmat suits, and men and women in army fatigues scrambled around the dusty site on Monday afternoon, dodging moving trucks, excavators and cranes. Workers were still trying to finish construction on the Huoshenshan Hospital — a name that means “Fire God Mountain” — even as the facility prepared to accept its first batch of patients, the official state broadcaster, China Central Television, reported.

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Xue Ying, a resident of Wuhan, had driven to the new hospital hoping to find help for his increasingly unwell cousin. But city officials and signs on checkpoints have said the hospital would not accept walk-ins. Admission was only for patients with officially confirmed coronavirus infections who were transferred from other facilities.