Coronavirus: Wuhan doctors battle outbreak in nappies as masks rub their faces raw
- ‘When doctors and nurses are in the ward, they cannot eat, drink or go to the bathroom,’ Wuhan media briefing is told
- Doctors and nurses ‘have bloody marks on the bridges of their noses’ from mask-related skin irritation, says Ma Xin, a doctor brought in to battle the outbreak
Medical workers battling a coronavirus outbreak in the central Chinese city of Wuhan wear nappies to get through gruelling shifts and must cope with skin irritations from protective masks, according to a doctor on the front line.
“When doctors and nurses are in the ward,” dressed in protective clothing that seals them off from the environment, “they cannot eat, drink or go to the bathroom”, Han Ding, deputy director of Peking Union Medical College Hospital in Beijing, said in Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak.
“Just in case they must urinate, they [wear a] diaper, and wash up after they’re done with their shift.”
Han is one of hundreds of doctors brought in from beyond Wuhan to support the round-the-clock fight against the coronavirus. So far, the disease has killed 1,115 people worldwide, with all but two of the deaths in mainland China. The virus causes an illness known as Covid-19 and had infected more than 45,000 globally as of Tuesday.
Leaders of medical teams described the difficult working conditions during an daily update held by the government of Hubei, where Wuhan is located.