Establishment and Functioning of a Temporary 1000-Bed COVID-19 Hospital During the Initial Outbreak in Wuhan

Background: COVID-19 Emerged as a novel zoonotic disease in late 2019 and quickly spread across Wuhan before spreading to other parts of China and rest of the world. Due to the rapid spread of the disease, local hospitals were inundated with COVID-19 patients putting a strain on the healthcare system. Little was known about the transmission and potential clinical management of COVID-19 at that time. Methods: A temporary COVID-19 hospital was built within one week. The confirmed COVID-19 cases were either directly recruited to the hospital or were transferred from other hospitals. Patients were admitted for both quarantine and treatment, as required. Data were collected as part of standard clinical care and retrospectively analyzed. Findings: A total of 2,959 patients were recruited during the operation period of this hospital between February 4, 2020, and April 8, 2020. These patients included 838 severe patients of which 72 were classified as critical, and 66 patients died. No infection was reported among healthcare workers. Interpretation: Setting up a dedicated hospital for COVID-19 provided a critical resource during the peak of the pandemic in Wuhan by enabling both quarantine and treatment for the infected patients. The mortality in this hospital was comparable to other hospitals at the time. These data suggest that this approach may prove beneficial in controlling infectious disease spread and limit mortality and prevent strain on existing healthcare system to enable them to care for non-COVID-19 patients. Funding Statement: This study was supported by funding from Beijing Nova Program Interdisciplinary Cooperation Project (DC; No. Z191100001119021), Chinese PLA General Hospital Youth Project (DC; No.QNF19074), Beijing Nova Program Project (DC; No. Z171100001117012), and China 13th Five-year National Key Grant (LXX; No.2018ZX09201013). Declaration of Interests: The authors declare that there are no competing interests. Ethics Approval Statement: This study was approved by the ethics committee of the Chinese PLA General Hospital, with a waiver of informed consent.