The largest makeshift hospital in east China's Shanghai began treating mild and asymptomatic patients of COVID-19 on Wednesday morning, with all 50,000 isolation beds fully available, a local health inspector said at a news briefing on Wednesday.

Wu Qianyu, senior inspector of the Shanghai Municipal Health Commission, said that Shanghai reported 1,189 new locally transmitted confirmed COVID-19 cases and 25,141 new asymptomatic infections on Tuesday, up from 994 and 22,348 the previous day, respectively.  

Located inside the National Exhibition and Convention Center, the makeshift hospital began limited operation on April 9. Shanghai has five city-level temporary hospitals for COVID-19 patients.

Stay reduced to a week

Wu also told the press that the duration of treatment at such temporary hospitals in Shanghai has been reduced to one week. 

Since makeshift hospitals are focused on mild and asymptomatic cases, treatment duration can be shortened through adequate health management, medical observation and symptomatic treatment, even with traditional Chinese medicine, which is recommended by the World Health Organization, she added. 

Treatment duration can also vary based on individual health conditions, such as personal resistance, level of immunity and underlying diseases, the health inspector said. 

She also said nucleic acid tests should be conducted daily for every patient from the second day of their admission into a temporary hospital. For those who get two consecutive negative nucleic acid test results, with a sampling interval of at least 24 hours, the doctors will decide whether or not to discharge them or end medical observation. 

On Tuesday, 334 people have been discharged from temporary hospitals and 6,044 people have returned home after finishing medical observations, but they will still be under observation at their residential communities, Wu added.