REINFORCEMENTS. Members of a medical team take part in an oath-taking ceremony before their departure to Wuhan of Hubei Province, in Nanning, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, on Jan. 27, 2020. A team comprised of 137 medical workers from Guangxi left for Wuhan on Monday to aid the novel coronavirus control efforts there. (Xinhua/Liang Shun)
BEIJING -- China has sent nearly 6,000 medical workers from across the country to Hubei Province in the fight against the novel coronavirus outbreak, a health official said Tuesday.
A total of 4,130 medical workers, in 30 teams, have arrived and started working, said Jiao Yahui, an official with the National Health Commission, at a press conference held in Beijing.
Jiao said an additional 1,800 medical staff will arrive by the end of Tuesday.
The first batches were sent from Shanghai and Guangdong last Friday.
These teams were sent to support the medical personnel in Hubei where the outbreak has taken a heavy toll.
Chinese health authorities announced Tuesday that 4,515 confirmed cases of pneumonia caused by the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) had been reported in 30 provincial-level regions by the end of Monday. A total of 106 people died of the disease.
The National Health Commission said in its daily report that 976 patients remained in critical condition, and 6,973 people were suspected of being infected with the virus as of Monday.
A total of 60 people had been discharged from the hospital after recovery.
Monday saw 1,771 new confirmed cases, 2,077 new suspected cases and 26 deaths -- 24 in Hubei Province, one in Beijing and one in Hainan Province.
Also on Monday, 515 patients became seriously ill and nine people were discharged from hospital after recovery.
A total of 47,833 close contacts had been traced, the commission said, adding that among them, 914 were discharged from medical observation on Monday, with 44,132 others still under medical observation.
By the end of Monday, eight confirmed cases had been reported in Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, seven in Macao Special Administrative Region and five in Taiwan. (Xinhua)
