An Epic Battle China rallies its human and material resources to fight the novel coronavirus

When the second medical expert group sent by the National Health Commission (NHC) to Wuhan, capital city of central China’s Hubei Province, confirmed the novel coronavirus’ ability of human-to-human transmission on January 18, the Chinese Lunar New Year, or the Spring Festival, traffic rush had already been eight days. Authorities had previously estimated a total number of 3 billion trips during the onemonth holiday season. Before the decision was made to seal off Wuhan on January 25 to prevent the spread of the virus, many people had already left the city, most of whom were from other cities of the province working in Wuhan.

During the early days of the outbreak of the novel coronavirus pneumonia, later named by the World Health Organization (WHO) as COVID-19, the number of confirmed infections increased rapidly, especially in Wuhan, with many suspected cases yet to be confirmed due to a lack of diagnostic capacity. Flooded by patients, hospitals were badly in need of medical materials. Their stock of protective equipment ran out in days and their hospital staff were in chronic need of rest.

Warned by experts about the danger of infection, people already in Spring Festival mood rushed to stores for masks, only to find they were sold out. Worse still, factories of medical supplies across the country were not able to operate at full capacity because of staff being off for the holidays.

On January 25, the day of the Spring Festival, Chinese President Xi Jinping chaired a meeting of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, where decisions were made to establish a leading group to manage containment of the epidemic and send overseeing teams to Hubei and other severely affected areas. Xi later called the battle against the virus a major test of China’s governance system and capacity.

Rapid response

At dawn of January 25, the first team providing medical assistance arrived in Wuhan from Shanghai. They were there to help Jinyintan Hospital, where the most critical patients at the time were hospitalized.

Other teams followed. By February 13, over 20,000 medical practitioners in 180 teams were sent to Hubei, over 7,000 of whom were intensive care professionals. These are China’s elite medical teams, with many members having experience in fighting SARS and Ebola.

On February 13, 11 large and medium military transport aircraft landed at Wuhan’s Tianhe Airport, bringing part of another 2,600 medical practitioners and supplies from the military. For the first time, China’s self-developed Yun-20 large transport aircraft were deployed for non-military purpose.

During these days, Chinese people confined to their homes were touched by social media pictures and videos of doctors sweating under protective clothing and nurses with shaved heads, for easier personal hygiene, with deep lines etched in their faces from wearing masks all day long.

To ease the shortage of beds for patients in critical conditions, rapid construction of two new hospitals, Huoshenshan and

Leishenshan, was launched. The former was completed on February 2 and saw the discharge of its first seven patients on February 14. The latter had admitted about 500 patients by February 14 in completed parts of the hospital, while the rest was being constructed.

To isolate and treat patients who were not critical, venues in Wuhan, including gymnasiums, exhibition centers and sports centers, were converted into temporary hospitals.

Committed medical workers

As the epidemic escalated, China’s companies, social organizations and individuals, including overseas Chinese, quickly reacted and provided aid in various forms.

While national support and attention were focused on Wuhan at the beginning of the epidemic, other cities in the province were also fighting a hard battle. Equipped with less medical resources, these cities were under as much pressure as Wuhan.

Su Yanli is a nurse working in one of the two hospitals that were able to admit infected patients in Hefeng County of Enshi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture at the southwest corner of the province. Far away from Wuhan, the prefecture had relatively few cases of infection.

When the county’s first case was confirmed in the hospital, the crew had few medical supplies and knowledge of how to treat the patient. Su worked consecutively for four days and three nights to take care of the patient together with another doctor, while the other medical personal were urgently trained on how to handle the virus properly. She was then put into quarantine as a precaution.

“We did this so that we could have as many fit medical staff as possible for incoming patients,” she told Chinafrica. Fortunately, although poorly protected during the shift, Su was not infected.

Her husband, a policeman, was also working during the holiday. Mobility of people was strictly controlled in the county, with checkpoints at the gates of each community