Chinese President Xi Jinping calls for greater protection of medical staff as coronavirus death toll crosses 2,000

Chinese President Xi Jinping called for greater protection of medical workers fighting coronavirus after causalities among m showed an urd trend as death toll from epidemic crossed 2,000-mark on Wednesday, authorities said.

China's National Health Commission (NHC) in its daily report said that 136 people died on Tuesday taking total death toll to 2,004 so far due to virus also called COVID-19.

Of new deaths, 132 were reported from worst-hit Hubei province for which Wuhan is provincial capital and one each from Heilongjiang, Shandong, Guangdong and Guizhou.

Over 74,100 people have w been infected by dely virus in China, with more than 1,000 or cases detected in at least 25 countries.

Ar 1,185 new suspected cases have been reported on Tuesday in China, while 236 patients became seriously ill and 11,977 patients remained in severe condition, commission said, indicating that condition of large number of people who contracted virus remained critical.

On Wednesday, Hong Kong reported its second death from virus. deceased was a 70-year-old male who was diagsed on February 14.

Meanwhile, Wuhan witnessed yet ar major trdy on Tuesday as Liu Fan, 59, a deputy chief nurse of Wuchang Hospital, her parents and bror died due to virus, raising concerns over increasing casualties of medical staff.

State-run Global Times reported on Wednesday that Liu h been on duty in injection room of hospital until February 2. She was confirmed to have been infected with virus on February 7 after she felt physical discomfort and h a fever following which she was mitted to hospital. Her condition worsened quickly and she died on February 14.

Tragically before Liu's death, her parents and bror h also died of virus after being infected. Her husband and daughter are under quarantine but have t been found to be infected.

On same day, Dr. Liu Zhiming, 51, president of same hospital, died of coronavirus, highlighting how China’s medical staff are paying a very high price while fighting virus.

Last Friday, NHC said that a total of 1,716 medical workers h been confirmed with infection as of February 11 and six ors died.

As medical workers' casualties increased, President Xi called for great attention to ir protection to make sure y are healthy and stay focused on winning battle against coronavirus.

Xi said medical workers are backbone force in defeating epidemic and stressed on providing comprehensive support for m to ensure ir strength, morale and energy.

He said China must "strengn efforts to relieve stress of medical workers, provide m with daily necessities, arrange time for ir rest and give m encourment", state-run Xinhua news ncy reported.

More than 30,000 medical workers, including military medics, have been sent from across country to worst-hit Hubei province to fight epidemic.

World Health Organisation Director-General, Tedros ham Ghebreyesus, condoled death of Dr. Liu saying that he touched and saved a number of lives.

"My deepest condolences to family of Dr Liu Zhiming, his colleagues and patients for this ermous loss," he tweeted on Tuesday.

Liu "touched and saved numerous lives in COVID-19 outbreak," Tedros said, ding that "my thoughts are with m and all front-line health workers fighting virus."

An eulogy issued by local health commission said Liu h me important contributions to city's epidemic prevention and control while leing all medical personnel of Wuchang Hospital on frontline to fight against epidemic.

Official media reports said that casualties among medical staff rose sharply as y were t aware about human-to-human transmission potential of virus as a result many of m attended patients without proper medical gear.

Also on Wednesday, NHC spokesperson Mi Feng claimed that COVID-19 in Hubei has been grually brought under control.

daily count of newly cured and discharged cases in Hubei, excluding capital city Wuhan, has exceeded number of newly confirmed cases for four consecutive days as of Wednesday, Mi told media here.

He also said that number of newly confirmed cases has decreased significantly since February 13 in areas besides Wuhan, and increase in cumulative number of confirmed cases has remained flat.

On Wednesday, 1,693 new confirmed cases were reported in Hubei, including 1,660 in Wuhan, according to NHC.

Also, two more hospitals with a planned capacity of 1,560 beds under control of military medics have started functioning in Wuhan.