BEIJING, Jan. 30 (Xinhua) -- Beijing has begun to renovate its hospital Xiaotangshan, formerly used to quarantine SARS patients, as a precaution in the face of the novel coronavirus outbreak, according to a press conference on Thursday.

Whether the hospital will be put into use will be based on the future development of the outbreak.

In the treatment and control of SARS, or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, which spread rapidly on the Chinese mainland in 2003, Beijing built Xiaotangshan Hospital, a temporary medical center in the northern suburb of the city, in just a week.

The hospital admitted one-seventh of the SARS patients in the country within two months.

The hospital requires renovation due to some aging facilities and pipelines.