(Bloomberg) --
Berlin has started building a 500-bed temporary hospital on the grounds of the city's exhibition center in anticipation of a potential surge in coronavirus patients.
The treatment center is being put up in one of the exhibition halls and should be ready this month, Albrecht Broemme, the project's builder, told reporters at the site on Wednesday. Another 500 beds may be added later, he said.
Broemme, who was pulled from retirement to oversee the project, said his greatest wishes are fast construction and that the unit won't be needed after all, “because things won't turn out that bad.”
Until December, the 66-year-old ran Germany's THW technical aid group that provides disaster relief around the world.
Berlin reported 2,777 coronavirus cases as of March 31, of which 380 were hospitalized and 92 in intensive care, according to the city's health administration. The tally of infections is lower than in Hamburg, Germany's second-largest city, and dwarfed by outbreaks in Madrid and New York.
About 550 doctors have volunteered to help treat patients in Berlin and some 100 are needed to staff the initial 500-bed facility, said Guenther Jonitz, who heads the city's chamber of physicians. Rebuilt after World War II, the conference grounds are located about 7 miles west of the city center.
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