Coronavirus: Chinese hospital built in under two weeks is to close after last patients leave

Vice president of Leishenshan Hospital says more than 2,000 people were treated on its wards

A Chinese hospital that was built in 10 days to treat people suffering from coronavirus is closing its doors, after its final four patients moved to another facility.

Leishenshan Hospital, which is located in Wuhan, the city where Covid-19 was first identified, opened at the start of February with an estimated capacity of 1,500 beds.

Fifteen thousand people are thought to have worked on its construction.

On Tuesday, its final four patients were taken to a permanent hospital in Wuhan, after being at Leishenshan Hospital for more than a month.

Yuan Yufeng, the hospital’s vice president, said: “Three of the four patients are over 70 years of age, so mostly seniors.

“The novel coronavirus pneumonia on these patients has already been cured.”

They are still receiving treatment for organ failure and chronic diseases.

The vice president also said that 2,011 people had been treated for coronavirus symptoms while the hospital was operational.

Of these patients, more than half were over 60 years old and 10 per cent were over 80.

The hospital is being disinfected on Wednesday and will then close.

Its closure comes the week after the city of Wuhan lifted its lockdown measures, which had been in place since late January.

There have been more than 83,000 reported coronavirus cases in China and over 3,200 deaths from the disease.