Hospital director dies in China's Wuhan, epicentre of coronavirus outbreak

BEIJING: The head of a leading hospital in China's central city of Wuhan, the epicentre of a coronavirus outbreak, died of the disease on Tuesday (February 18, 2020), state television said.

Dr Liu Zhiming, the director of Wuhan Wuchang Hospital, died at 10:30 am, it added.

Health care workers face the challenge of caring for a large number of patients in Wuhan.

On Friday (February 14), China disclosed that 1,716 medical workers have contracted the virus.

The announcement was the first official confirmation about the number of infected medical workers, and is likely to ratchet up fears about the spread of the virus.

Zeng Yixin, deputy director of the National Health Commission, said the numbers of infected workers represented 3.8 per cent of China’s overall confirmed infections as of Feb. 11. The victims represented 0.4 per cent of all deaths nationwide.