Coronavirus: Dubai World Trade Centre field hospital discharges final Covid-19 patient

Japanese patient is last to leave after recording negative test at the 3,000-bed temporary facility

Hiroaki Fujita is applauded by staff as he becomes the final patient to be discharged from the Dubai World Trade Centre field hospital. All pictures courtesy of AFP

Hiroaki Fujita is applauded by staff as he becomes the final patient to be discharged from the Dubai World Trade Centre field hospital

Hiroaki Fujita grasps flowers as he celebrates his recovery from Covid-19

Dubai resident Hiroaki Fujita praised staff for their support during his two-week stay at the field hospital

Hiroaki Fujita smiles as he prepares to return home following his recovery from Covid-19

Emirati medical staff bid a fond farewell to their final Covid-19 patient at the Dubai World Trade Centre field hospital

Hiroaki Fujita from Japan leaves the field hospital folowing successful treatment for Covid-19

The last patient to be treated for Covid-19 has been discharged from the Dubai World Trade Centre as the field hospital closed to make way for a sporting event.

The final patient to walk out of the temporary clinic, Japanese citizen Hiroaki Fujita, was allowed to return home after recording a negative test for coronavirus.

Mr Fujita, who has lived in Dubai for close to three years, praised staff for their care during his two-week stay at the facility.

The centre was one of several temporary hospitals established at the peak of the virus as authorities planned for a predicted surge in cases.

Other facilities in Ajman and Abu Dhabi at the National Exhibition Centre, where 1,000 temporary beds were installed, remain open although Adnec Field Hospital confirmed it was also free of Covid-19 cases.

The centre has since been transformed into a safe sports facility where the 10th annual Dubai Sports World will be held until October 3.

Dubai’s WTC hospital opened in April as medics braced for an uncertain future and government and private hospitals elsewhere began filling up with Covid-19 patients.

The temporary clinic allowed doctors to care for hundreds of emergency cases, with 800 of the 3,000 available beds suitable for intensive care patients.

Like many other similar centres around the world, the WTC field hospital became part of a temporary emergency health infrastructure.

Many are now being stood-down as medics see fewer patients with serious symptoms in need of emergency care.

A similar clinic at London’s ExCeL Centre, remains operational despite declining numbers of positive cases in the UK capital.

Like many of the UK’s other temporary NHS Nightingale hospitals, it is to be repurposed as specialist cancer care units to handle undiagnosed or untreated cases resulting from disrupted health services during the pandemic.

According to NHS England, 840,742 people are waiting for cancer diagnostic tests with 468,622 waiting more than six weeks.

On Tuesday, the UAE reported 532 new cases of the coronavirus, 993 recoveries and two deaths, taking the country's tallies to 52,600 infections, 41,714 recoveries and 326 deaths.