Did Russia have prior knowledge of coronavirus pandemic?

While countries all over the globe are taking precautionary methods to prevent the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, satellite images reveal Russia had prior knowledge of the coronavirus and was rushing to build a dedicated £92 million hospital in a field outside Moscow to be prepared for it in advance.

Let's take a look at the images in a chronological order:

 

This image shows a future hospital being built in Moscow, on November, 2019 , a month before the first coronavirus case was announced in China.

(Image courtesy: Maxar)

 

This image shows the same location almost three months later. An entire field has been scoured in to an expansive and bustling emergency yard.

(Image courtesy: Maxar)

The same location is seen in the image 15 days later. Moscow city mayor Sergey Sobyanin ordered the construction of the hospital 40 miles southwest of Kremlin.

(Image courtesy: Maxar)

This zoomed-in image was captured by Maxar worldview satellite on March 31, 2020. It shows the progress of the hospital's construction process.

(Image courtesy: Maxar)

While the construction of the first hospital was still in progress the Russian authorities have unveiled plans to speed-build a second 500-bed hospital to treat coronavirus victims. 

Russia will have two dedicated infectious diseases hospitals to cope with coronavirus patients, even though the country has one of the lowest numbers of confirmed cases worldwide