Virus battle at ‘most crucial stage’ as France sees 1st non-Asia death
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THE prevention and control of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak is currently at its most crucial stage in China, a senior health official said yesterday, as an 80-year-old infected Chinese tourist died in France — the first death confirmed outside Asia.
“In an effort to lower the infection rate, Hubei Province, especially Wuhan City, will strengthen prevention and control forces at the community level and promote targeted management so as to enable the communities to serve as a strong fortress against the epidemic,” Wang Hesheng, deputy head of the National Health Commission said at a press conference.
Wuhan, capital of Hubei and the epicenter of the epidemic, remains the main battlefield. A total of 217 medical teams with 25,633 medical workers had been sent to Hubei to help combat the COVID-19 as of Friday. Of the medical staff, 20,374 are now working in Wuhan, figures from the NHC show.
China has been pooling quality resources to step up treatment for severe and critical cases of the COVID-19 in Wuhan, which account for about 18 percent of all the confirmed and hospitalized cases in the city.
Health authorities have designated hospitals in Wuhan to receive severe and critically ill patients in isolated areas, Jiao Yahui, another official with the NHC, said at the same press conference.
A team of experts makes daily evaluations on all patients in severe condition and holds discussions and consultations on difficult cases. “We make sure that the patients receive timely and effective treatment,” Jiao said.
Most of the patients whose symptoms are severe or ultimately deadly are seniors with existing diseases and were already in severe or critical condition when they were hospitalized, Jiao noted.
Up to 30 to 39 percent of patients infected with the COVID-19 have been released from two of Wuhan’s hospitals that take in severe patients, including Jinyintan Hospital, according to the NHC.
Data from the NHC show that traditional Chinese medicine has been applied in treating more than half of the confirmed patients of COVID-19 infection in Hubei Province. TCM universities and hospitals across the country have sent 2,220 medical workers to Hubei to help combat the epidemic, according to Wang.
Hubei reported 2,420 new confirmed cases and 139 new deaths on Friday, bringing the total confirmed cases in the province to 54,406, the provincial health commission said yesterday.
Nine temporary hospitals with more than 6,960 beds have opened in Hubei, where 5,606 infected patients are currently receiving treatment, the NHC said. The temporary hospitals were converted from existing venues, including gymnasiums and exhibition centers.
Meanwhile, an 80-year-old Chinese tourist has died from the virus in France, the first confirmed death outside Asia, French Health Minister Agnes Buzyn said yesterday.
Buzyn said she had been told about the death of the patient — in hospital in Paris since late January — late on Friday, adding that his condition “had deteriorated rapidly” after several days in a critical condition.
Six people with the virus remain in hospital in France, Buzyn said, adding that none were seriously ill. One of them was the dead tourist’s 50-year-old daughter and the rest were Britons who were infected by a compatriot at a French ski resort.
Three deaths from the virus have so far been recorded outside China, the other two in the Philippines and Japan.
The biggest cluster outside China has been on a cruise ship, the Diamond Princess, quarantined off Japan’s Yokohama since early February. Another 67 people on board have tested positive for the coronavirus.
The new cases bring the number of people diagnosed on the ship to 285, out of the 3,700 people originally on board.
The US Embassy in Tokyo said in a letter yesterday to passengers that a chartered plane would arrive in Japan today and that it recommended “out of an abundance of caution” that US citizens disembark and return home for further monitoring.
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