NEW YORK - A temporary field hospital opens Tuesday in Central Park's East Meadow to treat the overflow patients from Mount Sinai hospital nearby.

The goal is to take some pressure off hospitals overwhelmed by the coronavirus.

More than a dozen tents have gone are up on the lawn across from Mount Sinai Hospital near Fifth Avenue and East 99th Street.

They will house 68 beds and 10 ICU beds.

It's a partnership between the hospital, city, state and "Samaritan's Purse", a Christian humanitarian organization that opened a similar 68-bed emergency facility in Cremona, Italy.

The setup comes as the city faces at least 38,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus.

More than 900 people have died in the five boroughs.

Meantime, the U.S. Navy ship "Comfort" is also set to start taking on patients Tuesday.

The ship arrived at Pier 90 on the West Side of Manhattan late Monday morning.

About a thousand medical personnel from the U.S. Navy are on board.

The Comfort has a thousand beds and is equipped with 12 operating rooms. It will focus on patients without coronavirus to allow other hospitals to focus on the COVID-19 cases. 

Mayor Bill de Blasio says the Comfort will be a great help to New York.

But he also says the city will need 60,000 hospital beds by May - and drastic measures may be taken to fill that need.

Mayor de Blasio says FEMA will also be sending another 250 ambulances to the city.

An additional 500 EMTs and paramedics are coming to New York to help with a record number of medical calls.