China opens second new hospital for coronavirus patients

Leishenshan Hospital

AP

China completed the construction Thursday of the second of two hospitals built in record time in Wuhan to isolate and treat patients of the coronavirus, which has killed more than 560 people since emerging in a local market.
The 1,600-bed Leishenshan (meaning Thunder God Mountain) Hospital was ready to accept patients three days after the opening of the 1,000-bed Huoshenshan (Fire God Mountain) Hospital, which was built in just eight days with prefabricated wards.
Meanwhile, the first group of patients was expected to begin testing Remdesivir, a new antiviral drug, on Thursday after clinical trials were approved.
Word of the trials had boosted the stock price of the drug’s maker, American biotechnology company Gilead Sciences Inc.
Antivirals and other drugs can reduce the severity of the virus, but “so far, no antivirals have been proven effective,” said Dr. Thanarak Plipat, deputy director-general of Thailand’s Disease Control Department of the Health Ministry.
He said there were a lot of unknowns, “but we have a lot of hope, as well.”
Meanwhile, China moved people with milder symptoms into makeshift medical facilities at sports centers, exhibition halls and other public venues.
Wuhan also had another 132 quarantine sites with more than 12,500 beds, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.

Chinese health officials reported 563 deaths and another sharp spike in the number of confirmed cases to 28,018.
Outside mainland China, at least 260 cases have been confirmed, including two deaths in Hong Kong and the Philippines.
The Chinese National Health Commission said the number of infected patients who were “discharged and cured” stood at 1,153 as of Thursday.


Details weren’t provided, but milder cases have been seen in younger, healthier people.
The youngest patient is a baby who was born Saturday in Wuhan and confirmed positive just 36 hours after birth.
“The baby was immediately separated from the mother after the birth and has been under artificial feeding. There was no close contact with the parents, yet it was diagnosed with the disease,” Dr. Zeng Lingkong, chief of neonatal diseases at Wuhan Children’s Hospital, told China’s state broadcaster CCTV.
Zeng said other infected mothers have given birth to babies who tested negative, so it was not yet known if the virus can be transmitted in the womb.
That “still needs further study,” he said.
https://nypost.com/2020/02/06/china-opens-second-new-hospital-for-coronavirus-patients/