U.S., March 16 -- Moscow authorities are rushing to build a hospital for coronavirus patients, city officials have said, similar to the medical facilities that were constructed from scratch in China.

The new hospital and its 500 beds will be ready in the "near future", according to a statement by Moscow's deputy mayor Anastasia Rakova on the city's health department website.

The facility in Moscow's southwestern outskirts will be fenced off and guarded, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on his own official home page last week. State TV has broadcast images of workers swiftly assembling pre-fabricated walls, reports Reuters.

Russia has so far recorded 63 coronavirus cases but no deaths. Some doctors have questioned the data, given what ...