East London’s ExCeL exhibition centre, which normally plays host to lifestyle shows, expos and conferences, has been converted into the temporary NHS Nightingale hospital, with space for 4,000 beds.
In nine days, the 87,328 square metres of double exhibition halls, have been fitted out with the framework for more than 80 wards, each with 42 beds. Some 500 fully-equipped beds, with oxygen and ventilators, are already in place and there is space for another 3,500.
If it did reach capacity, it would be one of the largest hospitals in the world.
The facility was built with the help of up to 200 soldiers a day from the Royal Anglian Regiment and Royal Gurkha Rifles, working long shifts alongside NHS staff and contractors.
“We project that roughly 56 percent of our population – 25.5 million people – will be infected with the virus over an eight week period,” Governor Newsom of California wrote on 3/19/2020.