Russia Rushes To Build Hospital For COVID-19 Treatment

An aerial view of the construction site for a new infectious-diseases hospital for patients with a suspected novel coronavirus infection.

Excavators have been deployed at the construction site in Babenki, 50 kilometers southwest of Moscow.

Another aerial view of the construction site.

An existing Moscow hospital has already been turned into a treatment center and quarantine zone exclusively for coronavirus patients, but the city's mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, has said he wants more capacity, if needed. 

Trucks at the construction site

Sobyanin says the new hospital is being built in an area without large apartment blocks and would not pose a danger to the local population.

Construction workers at the site

From March 18 until May 1, Russia has banned the entry of foreign nationals in response to the coronavirus outbreak.
 

Some Russian doctors have questioned the low number of officially reported cases so far, given what they say is the patchy nature of testing.

The government maintains that it has been totally transparent about its handling of the crisis, and that its statistics are accurate.

The head of Russia's Bashkortostan region, about 1,200 kilometers east of Moscow, has said his region would also build a new hospital within the next few months to treat coronavirus patients.