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Live from Wuhan: millions tune in to watch China build coronavirus hospitals
- Streams from the construction sites of two new temporary medical facilities at the epicentre of the outbreak attract a supportive audience
- More cities expected to follow in race to contain transmission
Reading Time:3 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
It has low production values and no celebrities but millions of people in China are tuning in to watch a gripping kind of reality programme – the live feeds of construction of two temporary hospitals to treat patients at the heart of the deadly coronavirus outbreak.
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The two hospitals – Huoshenshan and Leishenshan – are expected to be completed next week, adding 2,300 beds to help ease an acute shortage in the central Chinese city of Wuhan.
At least 106 people have died and more than 4,500 others have contracted the virus in mainland China since the outbreak began in the Hubei provincial capital more than a month ago.
State broadcaster CCTV is hosting the streams from the construction sites, which together had an average of around 18 million concurrent views on Tuesday.
Compare that with the 27.3 million concurrent viewers Tencent Video attracted for its live broadcast of the National Day military parade – an extravaganza planned and orchestrated by the People’s Liberation Army.
The temporary hospitals are part of the authorities’ efforts to contain the illness, measures that include imposing a lockdown on more than a dozen Hubei cities – including Wuhan.
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