2,000 more medical staff for Hubei as epidemic control gets top priority 2.1%
CHINA will send another 2,000 medical workers to support Hubei to help control a novel coronavirus epidemic that has claimed 425 lives in the mainland and infected more than 20,000 across the globe since it emerged in December.
Chinese authorities yesterday stressed that prevention and control of the epidemic remain the top priority in the central Hubei Province, especially in key areas such as the city of Wuhan and its surrounding areas.
Efforts should be made to improve patients’ recovery rate and reduce the infection and fatality rates, said an official statement issued yesterday after a meeting of the Communist Party of China Central Committee’s leading group on the prevention and control of the outbreak.
Preventive measures include enlisting a batch of hotels and venues to centrally treat patients with mild illness or observe people who had close contact with patients; adding another 2,000 medical workers to support Hubei; and dispatching a highlevel medical team to take over the hospitals that treat critically ill patients, the group stated.
Wuhan has converted three existing venues, including a gymnasium and an exhibition center, into temporary hospitals to receive patients with the novel coronavirus, and the three makeshift medical facilities will add a total capacity of 3,800 beds.
The sites — the Hongshan Gymnasium, the Wuhan International Conference and Exhibition Center and a cultural building complex — will take in patients with mild symptoms caused by the coronavirus.
The hospitals will serve as temporary medical sites with functions of emergency treatment and clinical testing.
The city had previously planned two makeshift hospitals, Huoshenshan and Leishenshan, with 2,600 beds in total for the treatment of patients infected with the virus. Huoshenshan has been completed, and Leishenshan is under construction.
Enterprises that manufacture protective clothing and face masks should resume work as soon as possible and expand production capacity. Relevant departments also should ensure the supply of daily necessities and operation of the transport network, according to the group.
Further measures will be taken to improve patient admission and survival rates and reduce infection and mortality rates in Hubei and its capital Wuhan.
The current case fatality rate of the novel coronavirus infection on the Chinese mainland has dropped to 2.1 percent, health authorities said yesterday.
The rate remained stable after an initial 2.3 percent recorded at the beginning of the outbreak, Jiao Yahui of the National Health Commission said at a daily press briefing on the epidemic in Beijing. The rate is calculated by dividing the number of deaths by the number of individuals diagnosed with the disease.
By the end of Monday, the number of confirmed coronavirus cases on the mainland had reached 20,438, and a total of 425 people had died of the disease, according to the commission.
“China is going all out to improve admission and survival rates and reduce infection and fatality rates,” said Jiao.
The fatality rate in Hubei was 3.1 percent, as the majority of deaths had occurred in the province, which saw a fatality toll of 414, over 97 percent of the total, Jiao informed.
In Wuhan, the rate stood at 4.9 percent and the death toll was 313, accounting for 74 percent of the national total.
The fatality rate outside Hubei was only 0.16 percent, she added. “This fatality rate is pretty low in other regions of China. So we are very confident, and there is no need for panic.”
Wuhan has allocated more hospitals dedicated to treating coronavirus-infected patients and invited top experts and doctors, according to Jiao.
“We believe the fatality rate of Wuhan will drop gradually.”
Jiao said the majority of those who had died were male, accounting for about two-thirds.
More than 80 percent of the deaths were people over 60 years old, and over 75 percent had at least one underlying disease such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and tumors, she noted.
(Agencies)