Construction started on a new emergency medical center on Thursday at Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center, to improve the city's capacity for infectious disease treatment and pandemic control.

The project, covering 152,777 square meters, consists of a medical building, an administration services complex, a power center and a liquid oxygen station.

After completion, the emergency center will double the existing facility's capacity and beds, fully supporting its future development.

The project's design incorporates the highest standards of respiratory infectious disease control and a new model that will suit both normal and pandemic conditions for medical safety and hospital infection control.

It will meet the standards of a world-leading facility which receives major infectious disease patients, participates in public health event prevention and control, conducts research on key infectious diseases and sets guidelines.

The ceremony to kick off the construction of the new medical center

Mayor Gong Zheng said the health center is playing an important role in the COVID-19 pandemic and it has ensured the city's safety.

He said the new project is expected to further enhance the center's clinical capability, improve infectious disease prevention and control and get more deeply involved in the public health emergency system by coordinating with disease control centers and other hospitals.

He required the center to perfect its emergency training system, and to develop better and quicker response mechanisms to ensure an instant transformation between normal conditions and pandemic conditions.

Medics would be encouraged to improve their clinical abilities, conduct more research and be more innovative to help build Shanghai into a world-leading medical and scientific innovation center.