On March 10, as the last 49 patients walked out of the Hongshan Gymnasium in Wuhan, central China’a Hubei Province, the Wuchang Temporary Treatment Center was officially closed. It also marked the closure of all temporary treatment centers in Wuhan. 

Since February 5 when the first patients of novel coronavirus walked in, the hospital received 1,124 patients, transferred 291 and discharged 833 patients after treatment. It was among the earliest temporary treatment centers to open and the last one to close since the outbreak. 

In early February, the outburst of patients caused a shortage of beds in the hospitals of Wuhan. In order to receive all the patients, the local government turned sports stadiums and exhibition centers into temporary treatment centers. In the night of February 3, three such hospitals were ready to receive mild cases. All together 16 such makeshift hospitals with a total of 13,000 beds were established within half a month. 

On February 28, a steering group from the Central Government announced at a press conference in Wuhan that the temporary treatment centers cut the waiting time for patients, which greatly eased the shortage of medical resources. Such hospitals have treated more than 12,000 patients in 35 days. More importantly, they hit a record of zero infection, zero death toll and zero subsequent visit. 

Ma Xiaowei, Director of the National Health Commission, hailed the hospitals as the “shelter of life”. 

Copyedited by Madhusudan Chaubey  

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