Health systems around the world are struggling to cope with the coronavirus pandemic. Can improvisation help?

An Italian design company has teamed up with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to create prefabricated intensive care units (ICUs), to deal with escalating numbers of coronavirus patients around the world.

Coronavirus patients with access to hospital equipment, in particular ICU beds, have a much greater chance of survival. With 377,431 confirmed cases of COVID-19 on 24 March, health systems around the world are groaning under the strain.

Carlo Ratti Associati and the MIT Senseable City Lab are looking to address this growing need with ICUs built inside shipping containers, which can be joined together to create mobile field hospitals.

They have teamed up with engineering firms, logistic experts and medical equipment suppliers, as part of a non-profit effort, to create the Connected Units for Respiratory Ailments, or CURA. These are designed to be as quick as a tent to put up, but as safe as a hospital with “biocontainment” – a series of safety practices to prevent the spread of disease.

The structure is quick to assemble and disassemble. Because it is made of shipping containers, it can be moved from epicentre to epicentre by road, rail and ship, within countries and from city to city around the world.

There is no international standard requiring a set number of hospital beds per thousand of population, so there are huge differences between countries.

There is even more variation when it comes to ICU beds per 100,000 inhabitants. Italy, which has suffered the deadliest outbreak of the disease with almost 64,000 cases, has 12.5 critical care beds per 100,000 people; compared with Germany, which has 29.2.

Once people are admitted to hospital, coronavirus patients require intensive and lengthy treatment, meaning beds are tied up for a number of weeks. Doctors in the north of Italy say that 70% of their intensive care unit beds are now reserved for coronavirus patients with “a reasonable chance to survive”. Older patients “are not being resuscitated and die alone”.

Scientists in London have used data from the Chinese epidemic to calculate the impact on the UK’s National Health Service. They estimate that the UK will need 200 beds per 100,000 people in the population. At the moment there are just under seven per 100,000.

Outside of Europe, preparations are being made to shore up fragile health systems in Africa, which could be overwhelmed if the disease takes hold there.

Alice Charles, Lead, Cities, Infrastructure & Urban Services at the World Economic Forum, which is supporting the project, says: “We are most concerned about the spread of coronavirus to densely populated urban areas in the global south, particularly in Africa where the trajectory for the first 40 days looks much worse that Europe. Hence we believe a solution of this nature needs to get to scale as soon as possible.”

The non-profit effort behind CURA involves a number of international partners with a range of expertise, including: CRA-Carlo Ratti Associati with Italo Rota (Design and Innovation), Humanitas Research Hospital (Medical Engineering), Policlinico di Milano (Medical Consultancy), Jacobs (Alberto Riva – Master Planning, design, construction and logistics support services), studio FM milano (Visual identity & graphic design), Squint/opera (Digital media), Alex Neame of Team Rubicon UK (Logistics), Ivan Pavanello of Projema (MEP Engineering), Dr. Maurizio Lanfranco of Ospedale Cottolengo (Medical Consultancy).

This article was first published in World Economic Forum

Stay updated with all the insights. Navigate news, 1 email day. Subscribe to Qrius

Broaden your horizons as unpack fresh trends shaping our lives. Qrius delivers fresh, immersive writing that answers the question 'Why should I care?'

Start your mornings with the acclaimed 'Qrius Mornings' newsletter that gives you our best article of the day right in your inbox.