Medical workers in central China’s Wuhan City are continuing to mount concerted efforts to save the remaining COVID-19 patients in the city, with only 27 severe cases remaining hospitalized as authority data showed on Friday.
Thanks to the country’s devoted medical workers, the cure rate of critically ill COVID-19 patients in China has seen a significant rise from 14% to over 89%.
The proportion of patients cured from the disease has reached 94% in Wuhan, the National Health Commission (NHC) said earlier this month.
At present, 20 experts sent by the NHC are also working in the three designated hospitals to treat the critically ill patients. The experts will make further treatment plans specifically for those with underlying diseases and multi-organ failure.
“Those who have not yet been discharged from hospital are either at an advanced age or have some underlying diseases which are not easy to treat. As experts we need to work together to save as many critically ill patients as possible,” said Tong Zhaohui, a member of the national team and professor with the department of respiration and critical care medicine of the Beijing Chaoyang Hospital.
At the Sino-French New City Branch of Wuhan’s Tongji Hospital, 70-year-old Qin has recently come off life support. He was once in critical condition over 40 days ago due to respiratory failure.
“I hope we can have our own spring – which is the ability to stand up and walk. The most important thing is still to say ‘thank you’ to our government and all the medical workers,” said Qin.
Underlying diseases are a high-risk factor for those infected with the virus, especially for elderly people.
Through medical staff’s constant adjustment of treatment plans, the cure rate of COVID-19 patients over 80 years old in Wuhan is now close to 70 percent, with seven centenarians cured and discharged from hospital.
“At this last stage, we will do everything we can to save these (critically ill) patients and send them home in good health,” said Zhu Wentao, vice president of the Sino-French Xincheng Branch of Wuhan Tongji Hospital.
China records 27 new COVID-19 cases:
China’s National Health Commission reported 27 new confirmed coronavirus cases on April 17, up from 26 the day earlier, according to data published on Saturday.
Of that figure, 17 cases were imported via individuals arriving overseas, up from 15 the previous day.
Newly discovered asymptomatic cases were at 54, down from 66 a day earlier.
Three of the new cases were imported, according to the health ministry.
The total number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the country reached 82 719, an increase of 300 from the number reported the day prior.
The sharp uptake follows revisions in case reporting that the NHC announced on Friday.
The ministry placed the total death toll from the virus at 4 632 as of April 17, a number it originally reported on Friday when it publicly announced the revised figures.
The new death toll marks an increase of over 1 000.
Below is a Live Tracking of the cases, death toll and other information, updated daily:
