Whether the hospital will be put into use will be based on the future development of the outbreak.
In the treatment and control of SARS, or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, which spread rapidly on the Chinese mainland in 2003, Beijing built Xiaotangshan Hospital, a temporary medical center in the northern suburb of the city, in just a week.
The hospital admitted one-seventh of the SARS patients in the country within two months.
The hospital requires renovation due to some aging facilities and pipelines.
* Better test capability and expanded test coverage are important reasons for the surge in the number of confirmed cases of novel coronavirus infections in China, experts have said.
Chinese health authorities announced Thursday that 7,711 confirmed cases of pneumonia caused by the novel coronavirus had been reported in 31 provincial-level regions and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps by the end of Wednesday. A total of 170 people have died of the disease.
The National Health Commission said in its daily report that 1,370 patients remained in critical conditions, and 12,167 people were suspected of being infected with the virus as of the end of Wednesday.
A total of 124 people had been discharged from hospital after recovery.
Wednesday saw 1,737 new confirmed cases, including the first confirmed case in Tibet Autonomous Region, 4,148 new suspected cases, and 38 deaths -- 37 in Hubei Province and one in Sichuan Province.
Also on Wednesday, 131 patients became seriously ill, and 21 people were discharged from hospital after recovery.
A total of 88,693 close contacts had been traced, the commission said, adding that among them, 2,364 were discharged from medical observation on Wednesday, with 81,947 others still under medical observation.
By the end of Wednesday, 10 confirmed cases had been reported in Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, seven in Macao Special Administrative Region and eight in Taiwan.
* General secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and President of China Xi Jinping has ordered Chinese military to keep its mission firmly in mind and shoulder responsibility to make contributions to winning the battle against the novel coronavirus epidemic.
Xi said the epidemic prevention and control remained grim and complex and demanded the armed forces shoulder their responsibility, fight the hard battle and actively assist local authorities in fighting the epidemic.
* Chinese Vice Premier Sun Chunlan Wednesday ordered better medical supplies to aid the fight against the novel coronavirus epidemic. Sun, who leads a central government group to guide the epidemic control work in Wuhan, capital of Hubei Province, inspected several protective equipment manufacturers in the city on Wednesday morning to learn about the production of protective clothing and face masks.
She ordered all-out efforts to ensure medical supplies to ensure the safety of medical workers who are risking their lives to treat patients.
*The Chinese Football Association (CFA) announced on Thursday that all the domestic matches of the 2020 season will be postponed for the better control of the novel coronavirus outbreak.
* China's railway sector will strengthen prevention and control measures to help curb the spread of the novel coronavirus, according to the China State Railway Group Co., Ltd.
It said the prevention and control of pneumonia outbreaks in passengers and employees, as well as the transport of epidemic prevention materials, should be the major tasks.
* China has allocated CNY27.3 billion (about US$3.94 billion) to support the battle across the country against the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) as of 5 p.m. Jan. 29, the country's finance ministry said Thursday.
The funds have been allocated to guarantee the coronavirus prevention and control work, the Ministry of Finance said on its website.
*Social organizations that spread false information or engage in illegal activities during the new coronavirus outbreak will be severely punished, according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs.
Venues for the registration of social organizations should improve their plans for epidemic prevention, the ministry said in a notice, urging the public to handle their affairs online or via telephone wherever possible.
