China begins withdrawal of medical staff as city records just 1 new case

Beijing/Wuhan: China on Tuesday began withdrawal of thousands of doctors and medical staff from Wuhan after the epicentre of the Coronavirus outbreak reported just one confirmed case.

With mixed feelings of containing the dreaded COVID-19 but sad over deaths of thousands of people, the first batch of medical assistance teams started leaving Hubei province early on Tuesday as the epidemic outbreak in the hard-hit province has been subdued, official media reported. Over 3,600 medical staffers belonging to 41 medical teams from across China have assisted 14 temporary hospitals and seven designated hospitals in Wuhan, the provincial capital and the epicentre of the outbreak, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

Wuhan reported just one confirmed case of the COVID-19 and 12 deaths on Monday, the provincial health commission said on Tuesday. Wuhan, along with the entire Hubei province with over 50 million people, was kept under total lockdown since January 23 banning all movement of transportation after the deadly virus first emerged in the city in December.

The latest report brought the total number of confirmed cases in the Hubei province to 67,799.

The overall confirmed cases on the mainland had reached 80,881 by the end of Monday. This includes 3,226 people who died of the disease, 8,976 patients who were still being treated, 68,679 others discharged after recovery.

China deployed over 42,000 medical workers from across the country, including from the military, in Hubei province and its capital Wuhan when the virus spread like wildfire infecting thousands of people. At about 7:30 a.m on Tuesday the national emergency medical rescue team from Shaanxi province departed by bus. Police officers at the expressway toll-gate saluted while watching their vehicles leave. Some of the team members shed tears behind their masks, Xinhua reported.The Shaanxi team consists of 43 experienced doctors and nurses from departments including emergency treatment, gynaecology and obstetrics, paediatrics and neurology as well as psychology under the Shaanxi Provincial People's Hospital.