China to withdraw thousands of medical staff from Wuhan as virus outbreak 'almost seen its end'

China on Monday announced plans for an orderly withdrawal of thousands of medical staff deployed in the worst-hit Wuhan city as a top medical expert said the coronavirus outbreak has "almost seen its end" in the country but a final judgement would be made after a month.

A leading Chinese official group, headed by Premier Li Keqiang, suggested orderly withdrawal of the medical staff supporting virus-hit Hubei province for which Wuhan is the capital, where the virus first emerged in December last year.

China deployed over 30,000 medical personnel, including staff from the military, and built 14 makeshift hospitals at the height of the coronavirus outbreak in January. The makeshift hospitals have been dismantled.

 

The leading group asked officials to ensure high-level treatment of severe COVID-19 patients in Wuhan while withdrawing the supporting medical teams, state-run China Daily reported.

Timely and full payment of subsidies should be guaranteed for frontline personnel in epidemic prevention and control, including medical staff, community workers, police and volunteers, the leading group said.

Meanwhile, Cao Wei, Deputy Director and Associate Chief Physician of the Department of infectious diseases of Peking Union Medical College Hospital, said the deadly coronavirus which brought China to a grinding halt for about three months has "almost seen its end".

"Currently, after three months of fight, the (virus) outbreak in China, which started in last December has almost seen its end," said Cao.

"We will still wait for another month to see and make the final judgement," Cao, who was in Wuhan directing mammoth medical operations to fight the disease, told an online media briefing.

She also said that no data has been found to indicate the relationship between the novel coronavirus and the weather.

The National Health Commission (NHC) said on Monday that the coronavirus death toll in China rose to 3,213 with 14 new fatalities, while the imported cases climbed to 123 after 12 new infections were reported, prompting Beijing to make 14-day quarantine in special facilities compulsory for foreigners arriving in the country.

Cao along with Dr. Du Bin, Director of medical ICU, Peking Union Medical College, Yan Xiawei, Vice Chief of Internal Medicine, Peking Union Medical college hospital, and Wu Dong, Associate Professor of Gastroenterology of the same hospital addressed the foreign and local media in an online press briefing from Wuhan.

All the four were part of several thousand medical personnel sent by China to worst-hit Hubei province and Wuhan since the virus outbreak.

"We all know WHO declared it as a pandemic a few days ago. It means the situation globally will not solely depend on China or any other single county," Cao said, adding that China would take a call on it in about a month.

Asked whether China apprehends a second wave of the virus, she said the relapse of the COVID-19 epidemic in China "would not be a great concern under the current prevention and control measures."

She said the number of newly reported cases of coronavirus in the country, including imported ones, might stay at a relatively low level, but it would last for a certain period of time as the imported cases have become an important source of COVID-19.

Cao also said there is no evidence to show that the virus would abate with the onset of summer and the resultant rise in temperatures, ruling out the prevailing view that summer heat would subdue the virus. There is no data about Covid-19 relevance to weather pattern.

"The impact of the weather on COVID-19 has not been confirmed yet," Cao said.

Mi Feng, an official with the National Health Commission, said the number of confirmed cases of coronavirus fell to 9,898 on Sunday on the Chinese mainland.

The number of severe cases continue to decrease and the medical treatment is effective, Mi told the media on Monday.

The overall confirmed cases on the mainland had reached 80,860 by the end of Sunday, including 9,898 patients who were still being treated, 67,749 patients who had been discharged after recovery, and 3,213 people who died of the disease.