Patients infected with the novel coronavirus are seen at a makeshift hospital converted from an exhibition center in Wuhan, central China's Hubei Province, Feb. 5, 2020. The first makeshift hospital converted from an exhibition center in China's epidemic-hit Wuhan city began accepting patients Wednesday. The hospital can provide about 1,600 beds to infected patients. (Xinhua/Xiong Qi)

WUHAN, Feb. 5  -- The first makeshift hospital converted from an exhibition center in epidemic-hit Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei Province, began accepting patients Wednesday.

The hospital can provide about 1,600 beds to infected patients.

Another two public facility turned hospitals, where 2,800 beds have been placed, started to take in patients with mild symptoms caused by the novel coronavirus late Wednesday.

Faced with the daunting task of treating an overwhelmingly large number of patients, Wuhan has stepped up efforts to build and create more medical facilities.

On Feb. 3, conversion work started on 13 venues including gymnasiums, sports centers and exhibition centers.

Currently, Wuhan has 28 designated hospitals for virus-infected patients treatment, providing over 8,250 hospital beds, said Hu Lishan, deputy secretary of the Communist Party of China Wuhan Municipal Committee, at a press conference on the prevention and control of the novel coronavirus outbreak Wednesday.

As hospital beds are still in short supply, Wuhan is gearing up to use private hospitals, hotels, schools and other places as designated sites for quarantine, observation and treatment of patients.

Hubei has subsidized funds totaling 400 million yuan (over 57 million U.S. dollars) on construction of treatment sites across the province.

A total of 16,678 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus infection had been reported in Hubei Province by Tuesday.