Coronavirus

Europe Races To Build Hospitals For Influx Of Coronavirus Patients

Countries including Britain, Spain and Italy have quickly built hospitals to help treat thousands of coronavirus patients as the outbreak continues.

Europe Races To Build Hospitals For Influx Of Coronavirus Patients
AP

As the coronavirus outbreak continues to spread across Europe, many nations are racing to find ways to handle an influx of seriously ill patients. 

Britain is rushing to prepare its first coronavirus field hospital, which was built in London in just over a week with the help of the military. The 4,000-bed facility will take non-critical coronavirus patients so British hospitals can focus on the more serious infections.

Spain has turned convention centers, libraries and sports arenas into temporary hospitals to increase the number of beds available to COVID-19 patients.

And an intensive care field hospital is now open for business in Milan, Italy, where the city's fairgrounds used to be. The facility has enough room for 200 patients and includes a pharmacy and radiology wards. 

But staffing these new hospitals with healthy medical personnel may be challenging. And many places are still in need of protective equipment and medication, too. 

However, some experts are cautiously optimistic that Europe's coronavirus outbreak might be stabilizing. The World Health Organization said there are signs that multiple countries are approaching a peak, and it's hopeful lockdowns that were put in place weeks ago will start showing success.

Contains footage from CNN. Additional reporting by Nicole Winfield and Angela Charlton of the Associated Press.