Wuhan nurses plead for help

BEIJING: Two frontline Chinese nurses working in Wuhan have appealed for international help, pleading for medical workers from across the world to help them fight the epidemic.

In an open letter published in the medical journal, The Lancet, nurses Yingchun Zeng and Yan Zhen wrote about a severe shortage of protective equipment, dayto-day difficulties and other issues.

“Due to an extreme shortage of health care professionals in

Wuhan, 14,000 nurses from across China have voluntarily come to Wuhan to support local medical health care professionals,” they wrote.

“But we need much more help. We are asking nurses and medical staff from countries around the world to come to China now to help us in this battle.”

The letter gives a glimpse of how the outbreak has overwhelmed the response to it. “The conditions and environment here in Wuhan are more difficult and extreme than we could ever have imagined. There is a severe shortage of protective equipment, such as N95 respirators, face shields, goggles, gowns, and gloves. The goggles are made of plastic that must be repeatedly cleaned and sterilised in the ward, making them difficult to see through,” they wrote.

President Xi Jinping said on Wednesday the situation in Wuhan remains “complex and grim” despite the decline in the number of cases and risk of rebound cannot be overlooked.

China on Wednesday said that there were more than 50 new deaths from the outbreak until Tuesday midnight, taking the toll to 2,718 on the mainland.