(Yicai Global) Jan. 24 -- Central China's Wuhan has kicked off a speedy new hospital project to prepare to treat more novel coronavirus-caused pneumonia patients. 

The 25,000-square meter hospital should have 1,000 beds and be ready on Feb. 3, according to information provided to Yicai Global. Bulldozers and backhoe loaders were already working on the site yesterday, according to a video sent by a Yicai Global reader. 

The site is 20 kilometers from the city center and it will have prefabricated buildings that are quick to install, local newspaper Changjiang Daily reported. The city is looking to copy the experience of Beijing which built Xiaotangshan hospital in a week in 2003 to tackle the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome epidemic, according to the local administration.

Editor: Chen Juan, Emmi Laine