Dr Liu Zhiming, the director of Wuchang Hospital, is the first hospital leader to have died in the fight against coronavirus, reported Red Star News. A doctor at the hospital said they were saddened to hear of his passing. The hospital is yet to comment on the death.
Just last week Liu Fan, a nurse at Wuchang Hospital, died of the coronavirus after contracting the deadly disease at work.
The hospital said she died after failing to get a hazmat suit on due to a shortage of medical supplies.
She died at 6.30pm on Friday.
The hospital said: “To lose such a good nurse, we are deeply distressed.
“All neighbourhood clinics need to enforce personal preventative measures according to requirement.
“In this battle, the virus is cruel. We express our deepest condolences for comrade Liu Fan’s passing
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A top emergency expert at the World Health Organisation (WHO) said later that using convalescent plasma was a “very valid” approach to test, but that it was important to get the timing right to maximise the boost to a patient’s immunity.
The coronavirus epidemic is believed to have originated in a seafood market in the central city of Wuhan, capital of Hubei province, and has so far killed 1,770 people and infected more than 70,000 in mainland China.
China’s financial hub of Shanghai on Monday had 332 infected cases, one of whom died in recent weeks.
Lu Hongzhou, professor and co-director of the Shanghai Public Health Clinical Centre, said that 184 cases were still hospitalised, including 166 mild cases, while 18 were in serious and critical conditions.
He said the hospital had set up a special clinic to administer plasma therapy and was selecting patients who were willing to donate. The blood would be screened to check if he or she had other diseases like hepatitis B or C, he added.
He said: “We are positive that this method can be very effective in our patients.”
There are no fully licensed treatments or vaccines against the new coronavirus, and the process of developing and testing drugs can take many months and even years.