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Saigon Opens 300-Bed Field Hospital to Prepare for Coronavirus Outbreak

It is located in suburban Cu Chi District.

Over the weekend, Vietnam confirmed its 14th instance of novel coronavirus (nCoV) infection. The patient is a 55-year-old woman who's the neighbor of a previous patient in Vinh Phuc. Meanwhile, VnExpress reports that Saigon's Department of Health has almost finished work on a makeshift 300-bed hospital.

Last week, the department announced that it would create two field hospitals in case the outbreak worsens in the city: one in Cu Chi, and another in Nha Be District.

The Cu Chi facility is expected to open from this week and features 300 beds, including 20 intensive-care beds. The local electricity company has been tasked with ensuring a stable power supply. The hospital was converted from the military school of the city’s Military Command in Cu Chi District.

Tang Chi Thuong, deputy head of the city health department, told the news source that 100 beds will be ready in Cu Chi this week, while the remaining 200 will be installed by the end of next week.

On Sunday, the Ministry of Health confirmed the ninth nCoV case in Vinh Phuc Province, where the majority of Vietnam's cases have been detected. A group of eight Vietnamese workers returned from Wuhan, the epicenter of the epidemic, late last month, and several are from Vinh Phuc. Six of the eight of have been diagnosed with the virus thus far.

As of this writing, China has reported 40,171 infections and 908 deaths in the country.

Meanwhile, early this morning, 30 Vietnamese nationals who had been stuck in Wuhan were flown to Van Don International Airport in Quang Ninh Province on a Vietnam Airlines charter flight.

The group had their body temperatures checked and their luggage disinfected in a reserved part of the airport, and all 30 people will be taken to the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases in Hanoi for a 14-day quarantine process.

[Photo via Bao Quoc Te]

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