Chinese Virus

Chinese Virus www.infralive.com 31 Infra LIVE April 15, 2020 about a week later. But while the hospital originally noted in her diagnostic report that she was suffering from “viral pneumonia”, it later changed the description of her ailment to “infections”. Wuhan Central Hospital would become one of the city's most severely hit medical facilities, with four doctors including Dr Li suc- cumbing to Covid-19. “If these doctors could have been warned about the disease earlier, they would not have died. So I really regret that I didn't warn more people,” she said. “If I could have known how the outbreak would turn out I would have told everyone, even though I was warned,” she said. “I have thought many times – if only time could be turned back.” Wuhan Wuhan is the capital of Hubei province in China. With a popula- tion of over 11 million, it is the largest city in Hubei, the most populous city in Central China, immediately. “I even grabbed our hospital respiratory department director, who happened to be passing my office, and told him that one of his patients was con- firmed to have been infected with a SARS-like virus,” she said. Whistle-blower ophthalmolo- gist Dr Li Wenliang, 34, who was reprimanded by public security officers for “spreading rumours”, was among those who shared Dr Ai's picture with others. He died on February 6 after contracting the virus. Dr Li's death prompted an outpouring of grief and anger over the handling of the crisis. According to the magazine, Dr Ai said she was told by superiors, the day she sounded the alarm, that Wuhan's health commission had issued a directive that medical workers were not to disclose any- thing about the virus, or the dis- ease it caused, to avoid a panic. Two days later, an official in charge of the hospital's supervi- sion department gave Dr Ai a dressing down for “spreading rumours” – a reference to the photograph she had posted online. The official told Dr Ai to notify all staff in her department not to disclose anything about the dis- ease – and to say nothing about it to anyone, not even to her hus- band, according to the magazine. “My mind just went blank,” Dr Ai said. “He wasn't criticising me for not working hard … he made me feel that I alone had ruined the future of Wuhan. I was in despair.” Dr Ai told People that she believed her actions did not con- stitute any wrongdoing. “I notified my hospital and I never disclosed the patient's personal details when I discussed a particular case with other doctors,” she said. “How could I refrain from dis- cussions with my medical col- leagues knowing that a new and significant virus had emerged? I followed my intuition as a doctor – so what mistakes did I make?” Dr Ai said Hu Ziwei, a nurse at the hospital, became infected 137 130 55 45 43 41 41 36 33 30 29 20 13 13 12 10 7 6 6 5 3 3 2 1 1 1 1 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 Kerala Maharashtra Karnataka Telangana Gujarat Rajasthan UP Delhi Punjab Haryana TN MP J&K Ladakh AP WB Chandigarh Bihar Chhattisgarh Uttarakhand Goa HP Odisha A&N Islands Manipur Mizoram Puducherry No. of Covid-19 Positive patients in India as on March 27, 2020 Total - 724 positive patients