In Wuhan’s shadow, smaller coronavirus-hit Chinese cities scramble for medical supplies

Stockpiles of protective equipment are running low in places like Xiaogan and Huanggang, little-known cities with millions of people

Residents look for sources of disinfectant to clean their homes but lockdowns hamper influx of deliveries

Reading Time:3 minutes

Hospitals in smaller cities near Wuhan also need fresh supplies of protective medical equipment. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 8:30am, 5 Feb 2020Updated: 6:12pm, 14 Feb 2020

Feng Chuncui has been using the same mask for a week.

Feng is a gynaecologist at the main hospital in the central Chinese city of Xiaogan, where medical teams have been struggling to cope with a flood of coronavirus patients amid a chronic shortage of equipment.

Late last month, she became one of those patients. A colleague contracted the previously unknown virus and Feng was soon confirmed with it too, forcing her into quarantine at the hospital.

“Our hospital is getting large numbers of patients every day and few are being discharged. We go through a lot of masks, protective suits, safety goggles and disinfectant,” she said, coughing repeatedly.

“The only mask I have now was taken from my office before I was hospitalised, and I have been using it for more than a week.”

Xiaogan is home to 4.8 million and just 60km (37 miles) to the east of the provincial capital, Wuhan, where cases of the coronavirus were first reported.

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