More than 25,000 medics arrived in Hubei since January

A total of 217 medical teams with 25,633 medical workers have arrived in Central China's Hubei province and been offering medical help since the novel coronavirus pneumonia hit the country in January, a senior official of the national health commission said.

“The scale of the medical aid and the speed of the team mobilization this time have both vastly exceeded those in the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake in Sichuan province,” Wang Hesheng, vice-minister of the commission, told a news conference organized by the State Council Information Office in Hubei on Saturday.

It was the first time for the press briefing to be live broadcast through 5G, with reporters asking questions through remote video to prevent cross-infections amid the epidemic.

As of Friday, 181 teams involving 20,374 medical staff members had been saving patients and providing medical aid in the province’s capital, Wuhan, also the outbreak epicenter, with 36 teams consisting of 5,295 in other cities of Hubei, he said.

Meanwhile, three mobile P3 laboratories have been sent to the province to offer help, he added.

"Many medics braved the novel coronavirus and took initiative to support Hubei," he said, showing respect to the medical workers and adding their arrivals have alleviated the provincial medical burden.

Some of the medics are experts from well-known hospitals, including the China-Japan Friendship Hospital in Beijing, and their focus is on those confirmed as having the infection and with severe symptoms, he said, adding the specialists also provided medical technology guidance for local hospitals.

The figures onmedics and teams released during the news conference do not include military staff, according to Wang.