Better protection against infection urged for medics, says expert

Stronger and more effective protection should be offered to medical workers to reduce the possibility of their being infected by the novel coronavirus, a medical expert said on Thursday.

Wang Guiqiang, head of the infectious disease center at Peking University's First Hospital, said that currently, all medical workers fighting the outbreak are required to undergo daily temperature and health inspections and those with possible infections have received timely treatment and quarantine.

Medical workers are among the most vulnerable people to the virus since the outbreak and there has been an increase in the number of infected medical workers, Wang said at a daily news conference.

The National Health Commission has taken a series of measures to protect medical workers, including making sure they can have enough rest and protective equipment, he said.

For medical workers who are working at places with higher risks of infection, they should wear high-level protective equipment, Wang said.

A total of 1,716 Chinese medical workers had been infected with the novel coronavirus by Feb 11. The number of infected medics in Hubei province reached 1,502, while the figure for the capital city of Wuhan was 1,102, the commission said.

A total of 32,395 medical workers in 278 teams from across the country have been sent to Hubei province, to join in the battle against the virus as of Wednesday, Mi Feng, spokesperson for the commission said at the conference.