Death, endless patients & breakdowns: What Wuhan's medical front liners have to face

Pandemic.

Nyi Nyi Thet | January 25, 2020, 11:08 PM

The Wuhan virus has now claimed 41 lives, with nearly 1,300 confirmed cases in China.

It is, however, important to note that the majority of these cases are squarely in Wuhan.

Due to the nature of the Chinese government, it is sometimes extremely tough to ascertain the veracity of the videos.

Videos are known to be yanked off Weibo with nary a reason given.

A really good account of the situation, from a doctor in Wuhan, was published in the BBC.

In it, the doctor talks about the thousands of patients streaming in, the general panic, and the emptiness of the streets of Wuhan.

https://twitter.com/howroute/status/1220402380010938370

The doctor also told BBC that the last two weeks have seen "an alarming rate of speed".

A first-hand account in South China Morning Post also tells of a city struggling to deal with the magnitude of the virus facing them.

"She said he had first come down with a fever 10 days ago and had started coughing up blood, but four hospitals had turned him away, saying they had run out of space and were unable to perform further tests."

While the initial outbreak saw a clear work shift in the isolation wards, it is unclear just how overworked the medical personnel might be right now.

A recent video allegedly of a doctor in Wuhan might give a clue as to how many more shifts the medical personnels might be dealing with.

The video shows a doctor breaking down over concerns of lack of hospital resources.

According to Shanghaiist, the doctor, who appears to be overworked, was saying he needed to work four shifts and did not have time to go home for the Spring Festival.

He also said, “Take those lying on the floor away.”

Which appears to tally with recent reports of bodies of patients who had died in the hospital and been left in the corridor "wrapped in linen".

It is in the midst of all this that this video of an alleged Wuhan medical personnel was posted on Weibo.

Here is the video on Shanghaiist.

The woman can be seen shouting "I can't take it anymore" in Mandarin repeatedly.

Another personnel appears to be trying to calm her down, while the others ate in silence.

The frontline staff fighting against the Wuhan virus also saw its first loss on Jan. 25, 2020.

The man had reportedly come out of retirement to help with this outbreak.

There are reinforcements on the way though, as doctors and nurses from other parts of China are flown into Wuhan, while 14,000 hazmat suits and 110,000 pairs of medical gloves have been allocated to Wuhan, according to CGTN.

The doggedness of the medical staff in the face of this magnitude of an outbreak was perhaps best encapsulated in how a doctor from Wuhan described their mentality.

"We have no intention of being heroes or martyrs, but we refuse to be deserters."

Here are staff having a brief respite from their 24/7 fight against the virus.