TIMELAPSE: UK constructs temporary hospital to prepare for coronavirus patients

UK constructs temporary hospital to prepare for coronavirus patients

The video only lasts 30 seconds, but crews needed eight days to build the NHS Nightingale Bristol, a temporary hospital designed to supplement any hospital overwhelmed by the coronavirus.

BRISTOL, United Kingdom - The National Health Service shared a timelapse video of crews building a temporary hospital in southwestern England.

The video only lasts 30 seconds, but crews needed eight days to build the facility at the University of West of England’s Frenchay campus, which sits just outside of Bristol.

The video only lasts 30 seconds, but crews needed eight days to build the NHS Nightingale Bristol. (NHS Nightingale Hospital Bristol via Storyful)

Between April 1 and April 8, the NHS Nightingale Bristol became a functioning field hospital capable of housing 1,000 patients. Facilities like this have become more common as coronavirus cases have put strains on hospitals worldwide.

Should it need to supplement any traditional hospitals, the NHS Nightingale Bristol is prepared to accept its first patients by the end of the month. But Elizabeth O’Mahoney, the NHS regional director for the southwest, hopes it doesn’t come to that.

“The Nightingale Bristol will support our hospitals to care for critically ill patients as and when needed. We would prefer never to even admit a patient, but it will be in place if needed,” O’Mahoney said.

At more than 65,000 cases, the United Kingdom has more the eighth-most positive coronavirus tests in the world, data gathered by Johns Hopkins University shows.

More than 7,990 people lost their lives to the virus while only a little more than 360 have recovered.

This story was reported from Atlanta.