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Brazil Transforms Sports Venues into Field Hospitals for Coronavirus


Airport employees wear masks as a precaution against the spread of the new coronavirus COVID-19 as they work at the Sao Paulo International Airport in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Feb. 26, 2020.
Airport employees wear masks as a precaution against the spread of the new coronavirus COVID-19 as they work at the Sao Paulo International Airport in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Feb. 26, 2020.

One of the most famous stadiums in Latin America is being transformed into a field hospital to treat patients infected with coronavirus in Brazil.

The Maracana in Rio de Janeiro, home to Olympics and World Cup contests, is among a group of stadiums and convention centers that will be used to accommodate the growing number of coronavirus cases in Brazil.

In Sao Paulo, which has the most case confirmed cases of the virus and deaths, the mayor’s office said that a combined 2,000 hospital beds would be added to the Pacaembu stadium and the Anhembi convention center in just a few weeks.

Dr. Luiz Carlos Zamarco, director of the Sao Paulo's Public Servants Hospital, said the Anhembi Convention Center will have a capacity for 1,800 hospital beds, 72 of those will serve as an intensive care unit.

Brazil has more than 2,400 confirmed cases of coronavirus and at least 57 people have died of the disease.

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