Coronavirus cases continue to rise
THE Shanghai Health Commission reported seven more cases of novel coronavirusrelated pneumonia yesterday morning and ruled out 20 suspected cases.
The newly diagnosed cases include four from Hubei Province — two from the provincial capital, Wuhan, and two from other cities — and three from the Pudong New Area of Shanghai.
According to the health commission, a total of 135 people in Shanghai are infected with the virus, ranging in age from 7 to 88, and 245 suspected cases have been cleared.
Among the infected, 89 lived in or traveled to Hubei Province,42 had contact with infected people and two had no known connection to Hubei.
Sixty-two are from outside of Shanghai, including 44 from Wuhan, 16 from other cities in Hubei and one each from Anhui and Heilongjiang provinces.
Seventy-three are local residents, including 25 living in Pudong, eight in Jing’an, six in Changning, five each in Xuhui, Minhang and Fengxian, four each in Huangpu and Hongkou, three in Songjiang, two each in
Baoshan, Jiading and Qingpu, and one each in Yangpu and Jinshan.
Currently, 120 are in stable condition, five are critical, nine have recovered and been discharged from hospitals and one has died. Another 200 suspected cases are undergoing tests.
Three children are being treated for the virus and in stable condition. All of them had contact with people from Wuhan, the epicenter of the current outbreak.
The children, one boy and two girls, are hospitalized and quarantined at Children’s Hospital of Fudan University, the designated hospital for juveniles infected with the virus.
The newly discharged patients include a 44-year-old man from Zhejiang Province, and a 52-year-old man from Shanghai. They both recently traveled to Hubei. Also discharged were a 20-year-old man and a 66-year-old woman, both from Hubei. All four were diagnosed with the virus last week and hospitalized at Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center.
Prior to discharge, their temperatures had been normal for more than three days and their respiratory-tract symptoms greatly improved.
Seventeen more city-level hospitals are expected to provide counseling services online so residents can talk to doctors without leaving their homes.
Wu Jinglei, director of Shanghai’s health commission, said more than 2,000 people used the service in its first two days. Two 24-hour hotlines, 3367-2885 and 33682885, are now in operation, as well as a WeChat app called “novel coronavirus workshop.”
General Hospital and Shanghai Children’s Hospital said 2,387 people using the service over the two days, with their platforms visited 176,000 times.
At noon on Friday, the city’s health commission and Shanghai Shenkang Hospital Development Center launched a new platform for people with a fever.
This has more than 60 doctors from 15 city-level hospitals working in shifts to answer people’s questions on the phone and online.
“These hospitals’ online counseling services and the platform for fever patients can enable residents to enjoy multi-channel and non-contact medical services and help reduce some unnecessary or not that urgent visits,” said Wu.