Construction is ongoing at the National Exhibition and Convention Center for the biggest COVID-19 makeshift hospital in Shanghai.

Shanghai's largest makeshift hospital at the National Exhibition and Convention Center will start operating on Saturday with 50,000 beds for COVID-19 infections.

Renovation and construction are in full swing at the landmark convention center covering over 600,000 square meters on the outskirts of Qingpu District.

Shanghai currently has four city-level makeshift hospitals with a total of 38,000 beds for COVID-19 patients.

Some district-level makeshift hospitals with another 21,000 beds have also been put into use, said Jin Chen, deputy director of Shanghai Housing and Urban-Rural Development Commission.

The key makeshift sites include Shanghai World Expo Exhibition & Convention Center, Shanghai New International Expo Center and a newly built project in Lingang in the Pudong New Area as well as the Fuxing Pavilion, or Rejuvenation Pavilion, of the China Flower Expo on Chongming Island.

Around another 70,000 beds will start receiving patients soon, including the 50,000 at the National Exhibition and Convention Center and an additional 20,000 beds at district-level makeshift sites under construction.

Makeshift hospitals primarily treat asymptomatic and mild cases, and patients are transferred to designated hospitals if their conditions worsen.

These sites have been playing a key role in Shanghai's anti-COVID-19 strategy to detect all positive cases through mass screening and put them under quarantine to achieve a "dynamic zero-COVID-19 on a social level."

Toilets and bathrooms are being installed at the National Exhibition and Convention Center for COVID-19 patients.

Over 50,000 workers from state- and city-owned, as well as private enterprises, have been working overnight on the renovation and construction of the sites, said Jin.

The Fuxing Pavilion in Chongming District, for instance, took only four days to be converted into a makeshift hospital.

Some construction companies reassigned over 3,000 workers in only a half day to support work at the National Exhibition and Convention Center. A total of 20,000 workers are operating round the clock so the biggest quarantine site can open soon, Jin noted.

A total of 340 toilets and 144 bathrooms have been completed for the 15,000 beds at the No. 6 pavilion at the convention center, according to the No. 1 company of the state-owned China Construction Eighth Engineering Division Corp.

The renovation of quarantine rooms has been finished, along with installation of ventilation and air tubes, according to the company, to service the buffer zone, resting areas for medics, toilets and bathrooms as well as air conditioning, electricity and water supply.

Since the start of construction on April 5, the company has deployed 1,500 workers and management staff as well as over 50 items of equipment for the project. All workers are operating in staggered shifts to ensure the project is progressing around the clock, an official with the company said.

Apart from medical services, the teams at the makeshift hospitals will also ensure the four key demands of the quarantined patients met – food and drink, sleeping, sanitation and WiFi, according to Fan Jia, president of the Zhongshan Hospital.

The hospital is in charge of operations at the designated hospital at Shanghai Geriatric Medical Center and Minhang Stadium makeshift hospital.

For Minhang Stadium, the hospital has redeployed 40 doctors and 200 nurses, most of whom rushed to Wuhan in 2020 to fight the initial coronavirus outbreak, Fan said.

Apart from meals, fruits, snacks and daily commodities, a 1,000-megabyte WiFi service has been opened for patients in the makeshift site, he added.

Workers assemble mobile rooms at the National Exhibition and Convention Center.