8,310 medical staff backing Hubei in virus fight

As of 8 pm on Sunday, a total of 8,310 medical staff members from 68 medical teams across China were fighting the novel coronavirus pneumonia in different places in Hubei, the center of the outbreak, vice-governor of Hubei Xiao Juhua said on Sunday.

The medical teams were organized by the National Health Commission, the Chinese Medicine Administration, the Chinese Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, 29 provinces, municipalities and regions, as well as the People's Liberation Army, Xiao said at a press conference.

The selected medical staff, some of whom fought the outbreak of SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) in 2003 or the Ebola epidemic in some western African nations in 2014, were experts in respiratory and infectious disease treatment and nursing.

Fifteen provinces and municipalities, including Shanghai, Guangdong, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Sichuan, Tianjin, Shandong and Chongqing, have sent medical teams to support Hubei, despite their own difficulties dealing with the virus.

Currently 6,775 staff members are working in 27 designated hospitals in provincial capital Wuhan, where the epidemic started, while the other 1,535 are performing their duties in other 10 cities in Hubei, according to the report.

Among them, 549 were fighting the virus in Huanggang, another city in Hubei where the situation to prevent and control the novel coronavirus is severe.