In China 1718 medical workers contracted COVID 19 and Six died

In China 1718 medical workers contracted COVID 19 and Six died

Dr KK Aggarwal

President CMAAO, HCFI and Past national president IMA

Medical workers in Hubei, have been working nearly nonstop even as they struggled with a shortage of personal protective equipment such as masks, gowns and safety goggles.

For the first time on Friday, China disclosed that 1,716 medical workers have contracted the virus and six of them have died. Of those people, 1,502 were in Hubei Province, with 1,102 of them in Wuhan.

National Health Commission, said the numbers of infected workers represented 3.8 percent of China’s overall confirmed infections as of Feb. 11.

Many doctors and nurses there say they eat just one meal a day because going to the restroom means removing and discarding safety gowns that they would not be able to replace.

During the SARS outbreak of 2002-3, 961 medical workers were infected, representing 18 percent of all infections.

About 1 percent of the medical workers infected with SARS died.