Tech & Sci
2020.02.03 22:01 GMT+8

Wuhan: Pathogen biosafety lab built in five days

Updated 2020.02.03 22:01 GMT+8
By Gao Yun

The new biosafety lab under construction in Wuhan. /Photo via cctv.com

To fight against the escalating novel coronavirus-caused pneumonia outbreak, Wuhan is building a 2,000-square-meter biosafety laboratory in five days, which will be another construction miracle after China built a makeshift hospital named Huoshenshan just in 10 days.

The construction officially started on February 1 by BGI Genomics in Wuhan National Bio-industry Base, also known as Biolake. After completion on February 5, the lab will greatly increase the speed of realizing the 10,000 novel coronavirus cases needed per day so that suspected infections can be eliminated or confirmed as soon as possible.

The construction site of the new biosafety lab in Wuhan. /Photo via cctv.com

As a high-seal, negative-pressure lab, the indoor air pressure is lower than that outside, so the air in the lab won't leak.

The air circulation in the negative-pressure lab depends on the ventilation ducts, which are usually purchased from the factory. To speed up the construction, more than 80 workers work on two shifts in 24 hours on the site. 

The constructors use the 3D-based Building Information Modeling (BIM) for more efficient process.

"It is like designing while building. We did a 3D BIM of the whole site. We use the model to check if there is a problem and can find the problem and fix it ahead of time," explained Huang Chengwei, technical director of the project construction. 

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