We are in the midst of a medical crisis. The deadly coronavirus that originated in China has infected hundreds of people and is now spreading across the globe at an alarming rate.
Amongst the global panic, people have been trying to figure out exactly where the virus has come from and how to treat it effectively. But it seems to be getting more and more destructive as time goes by.
Now, some devasting news has surfaced…
The head doctor of a hospital in Wuhan has died today after contracting the Covid-19 coronavirus, as reported by Chinese media.
Dr Liu Zhiming was the director of Wuchang Hospital in the city thought to be the epicentre of the disease.
He is the first hospital director to die from contracting the deadly virus.
His death was confirmed by People’s Daily, the official newspaper of China’s Communist Party.
The paper tweeted the news, writing: “Liu Zhiming, director of #Wuhan Wuchang Hospital, died on Feb. 17 due to the infection with #COVID19. He is the first hospital director that died from #coronavirus. #RIP.“
In what Red Star News called a ‘sacrifice’, Dr Liu died in the the fight against Covid-19, the official name of the novel coronavirus.
The news outlet, which is based in Chongqing, said that the news was confirmed by various sources. A doctor who worked at Wuhan’s Wuchang Hospital told the paper that he was saddened by Dr Liu’s death.
Dr Liu is the latest in a string of medics who have fallen victim to the disease, which has so far infected a reported 71,450 people.
Li, a 34-year-old ophthalmologist at Wuhan Central Hospital, had shared his concerns the same day that Chinese authorities confirmed they were investigating 27 cases of viral pneumonia. Officials at the epicentre in Wuhan – the capital of Hubei province, where millions are now trapped in an unprecedented lockdown – sent an “urgent notice” to all hospitals about the existence of “pneumonia of unclear cause”.
The notice ordered all departments to immediately compile information about known cases and report them up their chain of command. But it did not mention Sars or a coronavirus.
Li had posted a snippet of an RNA analysis finding “Sars coronavirus” and extensive bacteria colonies in a patient’s airways, according to a chat transcript that he and other chat members later shared online.
Another doctor who was working at a hospital in Wuhan died after contracting coronavirus back in January.
The China Global Television Network shared the news in a tweet and said the doctor who had died was 62-year-old Liang Wudong.
The overall death toll is currently sitting at 1,776, with all but five of them in China.
The World Health Organisation has today said that it isn’t calling the outbreak a ‘pandemic’ at the time being and that it’s focusing on protecting health workers around the world.