Coronavirus: a large convention center in London converted into a 4,000-bed hospital

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The British capital is preparing to open, this week, a large hospital in a large convention center transformed in just fifteen days.

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With our correspondent in London, Murielle Delcroix

Thanks to a lightning conversion that ends this Wednesday, April 1 with the help of the British army, a temporary hospital, entirely dedicated to the fight against the coronavirus , will open in London.

Previously known for hosting giant exhibitions and forums, the Excel center is located on the banks of the Thames in the east of the capital. Its conversion to a large field hospital is probably one of the most ambitious medical projects the country has ever undertaken since the end of the Second World War.

With its 100,000 square meters of space, capable of accommodating 4,000 patients, the center, renamed NHS Nightingale, exceeds the capacity of all other hospitals in the country, knowing that the largest, St George's Hospital in London, he has about 1,300 beds.

Up to 16,000 caregivers on site

This rapid transformation, in just two weeks, was made possible thanks to the expertise and intervention of the army. As soldiers, volunteers and medical officials put the finishing touches to the project, the first images showed row after row of medical beds, equipped with respirators and other intensive care equipment. Five hundred beds will be operational by the end of the week.

Ultimately, 16,000 caregivers could work here and treat the most severely ill patients to relieve other hospitals. Reassuring news as the government is increasingly criticized for its inability to increase screening for coronavirus and for the lack of protective gear for hospital staff.

The United Kingdom recorded, in one day, 563 additional deaths of patients affected by the coronavirus, a new record marking a clear acceleration of the pandemic and bringing the death toll to more than 2,000 deaths in the country, according to official figures published this Wednesday.

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• Coronavirus
• Health and Medicine
• United Kingdom

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