‘Clear backlog of coronavirus tests’ to help focus on confirmed cases at epicentre
- Communist Party boss of Hubei says tests on suspected patients must be done in two days to direct resources for treatment
- Study finds that up to 41 per cent of infections may have been through hospitals
The official Hubei Daily reported on Sunday that Hubei Communist Party chief Jiang Chaoliang called for expedited testing, saying that clearing the backlog would allow medical personnel and resources to be redirected to treat patients with confirmed infections.
The virus was first detected at a seafood and meat market in the city and authorities shut down Wuhan and neighbouring centres to try to contain the spread.
The city’s health system has struggled to cope with the explosion of cases and, according to Hubei deputy governor Cao Guangjing, supplies of medical protective equipment were about 20 per cent short of demand as of Friday.
Amid the strain, nearly 50 patients and 30 medical workers at the Wuhan Mental Health Centre had contracted the coronavirus, China Newsweek reported late on Saturday.
The report quoted a doctor at the centre as saying that a cluster of patients at the facility developed a fever around January 24 and tests revealed that nearly 50 patients had the virus.
Two weeks later, around four medical workers at the centre were found to have contracted the virus, the report said. Soon, dozens of medical workers were infected.
The doctor said the centre did not do enough to protect its own medical staff and needed more supplies of equipment such as masks.
Liu Lianzhong, the centre’s vice-president, did not respond to a request for comment.
As much as 41 per cent of coronavirus patients might have contracted the illness through human-to-human transmission at hospitals, according to a study by doctors at Zhongnan Hospital at Wuhan University.
The study, and published in the Journal of the American Medical Association on Friday, looked at 138 cases confirmed between January 1 and January 28 and found that 40 health workers were infected at Zhongnan Hospital, with another 17 people contracting the virus after being admitted for other conditions. The mortality rate for the 138 patients was 4.3 per cent.
Meanwhile, Zhongnan Hospital took over operations of the newly opened Leishenshan Hospital on Sunday.
Leishenshan is the second temporary hospital built to handle the outbreak and has a capacity for up to 1,500 patients. It has sonography, X-ray and laboratory testing equipment to help with diagnosis. Huoshenshan, another temporary hospital, has 1,000 beds and is managed by the military.
The design of the two hospitals is reportedly based on Xiaotangshan Hospital, which was built on the outskirts of Beijing in a week in 2003 in response to the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars). That facility treated almost 15 per cent of the country’s Sars patients in two months.
