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Coronavirus pandemic
ChinaPeople & Culture

Coronavirus: Beijing doctor points to signs of hope in Wuhan following pandemic fear and chaos

  • Second in a series exploring the different experiences of Covid-19 survivors from around the world
  • As Wuhan cases decline, a visiting doctor remains behind to help the city recover

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Coronavirus: Beijing doctor points to signs of hope in Wuhan following pandemic fear and chaos
Mandy Zuo
Most of China’s 42,000 medical workers sent to help contain the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan have returned home in the past week, but Wang Xiaogang will remain in the city until further notice.
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The 38-year-old doctor from Beijing is a member of a central government medical team sent to support Wuhan until the Covid-19 pandemic is deemed to be completely under control.

The virus has infected more than 82,000 people in China and more than 3,300 Chinese people have died of the disease. In the rest of the world, the spread of the disease is accelerating.

The first Covid-19 case was reported in Wuhan and more than 50,000 cases, including over 2,500 deaths, have been reported in the city, but there has been a significant recovery recently.

Since March 18 only two new cases have been reported in the city, including one imported case. By Friday there were about 980 patients. The city is lifting movement restrictions and reducing the number of hospitals treating coronavirus patients, allowing many medical workers visiting from outside Wuhan to return home.

“Ultimately there may be just a few hospitals, those which specialise in infectious diseases [to take in patients dispersed across different hospitals currently],” said Wang, who has been treating seriously ill patients at the Sino-French New City branch of the Tongji Hospital in Wuhan since February 8.

Wang said he was not fearful or anxious, despite his long stay in a new environment while battling a deadly, highly-contagious virus. He said he had adapted well.

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The survivors of Covid-19
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