Coronavirus kills 2nd person in Washington state
A second coronavirus death has been confirmed in Washington state, officials said Sunday.
China closed one of its makeshift hospitals for the first time on Monday as new coronavirus cases dipped in the country but continue to spread worldwide.
It was originally one of 16 rapidly constructed hospitals in the city of Wuhan -- considered the epicenter of the virus. It closed after discharging its last group of 34 recovered patients.
China's recorded just 202 new cases since yesterday, the lowest infected total since Jan. 22, according to Reuters. Wuhan had 193 of those cases, its lowest total since Jan. 26.
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The Huoshenshan temporary field hospital under construction is seen as it nears completion in Wuhan in central China's Hubei Province, Sunday, Feb. 2, 2020. China closed one of its makeshift hospitals for the first time on Monday as new coronavirus cases dipped in the country but continue to spread worldwide.
(Chinatopix via AP)
China constructed its first makeshift hospital in just a week back in early February to house the rapid uptick of infected patients in Wuhan.
Sixteen temporary hospitals were in place later that month which have treated roughly 12,000 people. Constriction efforts helped to increase the number of beds in Wuhan from 5,000 to 23,000.
“A traditional inpatient hospital might take two-plus years to build because there are state and local protections in place such as zoning laws, code requirements, etc.,” Grant Geiger, CEO of EIR Healthcare told Fox News in February. “In an emergency response situation, providing clinical care is paramount.”
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The head of the largest of all the temporary hospitals in Wuhan announced they also plan to close it by the end of the month. Located at an exhibition center, it was designed to treat as many as 2,000 patients and has a staff of 1,260. About 600 of its patients have been released and another 400 were transferred to other hospitals, according to Dr. Zhang Junjian, the director of the hospital.
"We expect maybe in mid-March or during the last ten days of March, our patients will be basically discharged from the hospital, because fewer patients are being admitted and the number of patients being discharged is gradually increasing now," he told the Associated Press. "So we can have at least 50 to 100 people discharged every day."
"If nothing special happens, I expect the operation of our makeshift hospital, the biggest one in Wuhan, could complete its historical mission by the end of March," he added.
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18 provinces also lowered their emergency response level over the past week, according to Reuters.
While new cases in China declined, the virus continues to spread worldwide -- in part because of its 14 day incubation period and the ease of travel today.
New cases continued to soar in Italy, France, Iran, and South Korea, while the Czech Republic, Scotland, Indonesia and the Dominican Republic all recorded their first infected patients.
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Florida, Rhode Island, and New York announced their first cases of the coronavirus on Sunday. Two people have died from the virus in Washington State-- the first fatalities recorded in the U.S.
The Associated Press contributed to this report