Wuhan reopens after 76-day lockdown

Chen Weiguo, president of the State-owned China Construction Third Engineering Bureau Co, said building the hospitals in such a short time sounded like a mission impossible, but his company created a miracle.

More than 34,000 employees from around China worked around the clock, and they raced against time to build the hospitals in order to get more patients treated, Chen said.

Over 340 medical teams consisting of over 42,600 medical workers from across the country, rushed to the hardest-hit city at the call of the central government. That number included at least 4,000 medical staff from the People's Liberation Army.

Wang Xinghuan, president of Leishenshan Hospital, said 3,202 medical workers from 286 hospitals from across the country gathered in the medical facility to help treat the critically ill patients.

"We all have the same goal, saving more lives and helping more patients recover from the illness," Wang said, adding more than 1,000 volunteers and a great number of State-owned and private companies offered their services to ensure the hospital operated well.

Nineteen provinces formed partnerships with 16 cities and counties in Hubei to help them where medical resources were overstretched, a usual practice China follows in mobilizing nationwide resources for disaster relief.

When Xi flew to Wuhan on an inspection tour on March 10, he expressed his respect for medical workers, military officers and soldiers, community workers, police officers, officials, volunteers and people from all walks of life who have been fighting the epidemic on the front line. He expressed sympathy to patients and their relatives, as well as the families of those who died of the disease and those who died on duty.

While stressing that medical treatment should be given the top priority to improve the recovery rate and reduce mortality to the greatest extent through scientific and targeted treatment, he demanded more understanding and tolerance for people in Hubei and Wuhan if some vented their frustrations after being under self-quarantine for a long time, as well as efforts to ensure the supply of their life necessities.

Chen Feng, a 75-year-old resident of Songtaoyuan community in Wuhan's Wuchang district, said he appreciated Xi's personal care for people's sufferings as well as his strong leadership in the people's war on the epidemic. "President Xi's visit to Wuhan took place at a critical time in the fight against the virus. His visit boosted our confidence in securing victory," Chen said.

Thanks to the stringent prevention and control measures, the situation in Wuhan keeps improving. Ma Xiaowei, minister of the National Health Commission, said at a news conference on March 31 that the domestic spread of the virus, with Wuhan being the main battlefield, has been "basically blocked" and epidemic control efforts have produced significant results.

Zhang Wenhong, director of the infectious disease department of Shanghai Huashan Hospital, told China Central Television that it is an unprecedented, remarkable achievement that a country can contain the pandemic in around two to four months. "All the nation, people and medical workers have done their utmost to curb the epidemic," Zhang said.

The risk of imported infections remains high, so vigilance is still highly needed to prevent the disease from going viral again, he said, adding that he is confident the country will fully win the battle against the virus.