A new Moscow hospital built in a little over a month to treat coronavirus patients has admitted its first 20 patients, the Moscow mayor’s office said Tuesday as the Russian capital continues to battle an onslaught of new cases.
Construction of the Demikhov city clinical hospital No. 68 some 70 kilometers southwest of the city center began on March 12 and the hospital officially opened its doors last Friday, April 17. The 800-bed hospital is set to accompany Kommunarka, Moscow’s main coronavirus hospital that began treating patients last month.
“The new infectious diseases hospital is unique and the first of its kind in the world,” the Moscow mayor’s office said.
The facility is equipped with its own oxygen supply system and has the capacity to carry out more than 10,000 coronavirus tests per day, it said.
“Each bed can be converted into an intensive care unit if necessary,” the new hospital’s chief doctor Sergei Perekhodov said.
“It’s highly important to promptly help coronavirus patients who develop respiratory failure,” he added.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin has pledged to allocate approximately 20,000 hospital beds for Covid-19 patients.
The city of more than 12.5 million has reported 29,433 coronavirus cases and 233 deaths as of Tuesday, making up more than half of Russia’s 52,763 cases and 456 deaths. Russia is now the world’s 10th most-affected country during the pandemic.
Since March 30, the Russian capital has instituted lockdown rules enforced with digital passes and the city’s sprawling network of surveillance cameras equipped with facial recognition technology.
Patients with mild Covid-19 symptoms are treated at home.