Makeshift hospitals point the way

Feng said doctors and nurses inspected the wards every day, and took patients' temperatures two or three times a day. Sometimes they received blood tests and prescribed drugs, he said. They were provided with good meals, and all the treatment and food was free, he added.

Liu Xiaocui, another resident in Wuhan who was discharged from Dunkou Fangcang Hospital in early March, said she started to feel not well in late January, including a headache and throat discomfort. But when she arrived at a regular hospital designated for such patients, she could not be diagnosed due to a lack of virus testing kits.

She was sent by the workers in her residential community to the temporary hospital in mid-February, she said.

"In the first few days, materials in the hospital were in short supply, and sometimes the meals were cold when delivered to us, but all of us could appreciate that it was a tough time," Liu said. "We had good food, including meat, vegetables, fruit and milk every day."

After staying in the hospital for treatment for a few days, Liu said her condition improved and her appetite returned. Before she was discharged from the hospital, she received two nucleic acid tests for the coronavirus, with an interval of 24 hours, and tested negative, she said.

An Shuoyan, a doctor who worked at a temporary hospital built in Wuhan Parlor, a major exhibition complex in Wuhan, said patients in the hospitals generally displayed a positive mood.

"Most of them had very mild symptoms, so they did not have great psychological pressure," said An, from the cardiovascular department of China-Japan Friendship Hospital in Beijing, who was sent to aid the treatment of patients in Wuhan.

"Many of them could not find a bed in a regular hospital, so they felt very glad to finally have a bed," she said. "Although living conditions could not compare with regular hospitals, most of them did not complain and cooperated well with doctors and nurses for treatment."

Although not regular hospitals, the temporary hospitals were built to the standard required for infectious diseases and were equipped with all necessities, such as testing machines and mechanical ventilation machines for patients, she said.