Getting a 5G Network Up and Running at the Huoshenshan Field Hospital in Wuhan

When the COVID-19 pandemic broke out in early 2020, the central Chinese city of Wuhan was hit the hardest. People from all walks of life played a part in getting the outbreak under control. At this critical juncture, reliable communications networks were of vital importance.

On January 23, the Wuhan Emergency Command Center for COVID-19 Prevention and Control called for the deployment of a 5G network at the Huoshenshan Field Hospital. The Huawei Hubei Rep Office responded to the call and immediately set up an emergency project team with our carrier customer, discussed the network plan overnight, and coordinated the necessary equipment and materials.

On January 24 – Chinese New Year's Eve – a group of more than 50 engineers from Huawei and our contractors divided into different groups and completed site survey, network construction planning, and stockpiling of equipment and materials.

On January 25, 13 engineers went to build the network at the hospital, with support from the back office. Within just one day, the 5G emergency base station was up and running. As patients would be admitted starting from February 4, the project team worked around the clock in a crowded and noisy makeshift warehouse to get the network ready. They finished setting up a videoconferencing system and video surveillance system, and completed network optimization on February 3. These systems allowed the hospital to provide remote consultations and remote monitoring services.

Between the lockdown of Wuhan on January 23 and February 14, the Huawei Hubei Rep Office completed 41 emergency network operations, handled 445 live network problems, and supplied 181 emergency spare parts. A total of 463 person-days were devoted to the project.

In this race against time, Huawei engineers rose to the challenge and helped our customers build communications channels that were critical to saving lives.

Moving Huawei network equipment

Optimizing the network in the hospital