Living at hospital

Man Ning, chief physician and head of the Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine Department at Wuhan Asia General Hospital, is caring for 25 critically ill patients, assisted by 12 doctors.

Man, 43, has been living at the hospital since early January. He has not taken a day off since the outbreak emerged, working from 8 am to midnight. He sleeps in the duty room in a sterile area, and if there is an emergency, nurses wake him whenever he is needed.

"I haven't set foot anywhere farther than 1 kilometer from the hospital since early January," he said.

Man's department started receiving increasing numbers of patients with fever at the start of January. On Jan 7, he increased vigilance and put suspected cases under quarantine.

A veteran of the fight against severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, in 2003, he knew how to proceed.

"However, the pathogenicity (the potential capacity of certain species of microbes or viruses to cause a disease) and ways of transmission were brand new to us. This created huge difficulties for our work," Man said.

With the number of fever cases mounting, Man scrapped plans for a Spring Festival family reunion in Huangshi, Hubei. He took daily necessities from his home to the hospital, where he has remained ever since, along with his team.

"It's just safer for our families that we stay in the hospital," he said.

Seven of the doctors in Man's department are women in their 30s. "They have stayed strong in front of me, but I know that they have cried sometimes when I'm not around," he said.

"The epidemic does not merely cause people physical pain, it weighs them down mentally."

Man's parents are in their 70s. He has an 18-year-old daughter in her final year of high school who is preparing for the national college entrance exam, or gaokao. His family, including his wife, is staying in Huangshi, just over 80 km southeast of Wuhan.

Concerned about his parents, Man calls them every day. Elderly patients with underlying conditions such as heart disease or hypertension are among those at the highest risk of infection and death from the virus.

Seven of Man's patients have died. Most were elderly with pre-existing health issues. Some of these patients' families decided to spare them the pain of invasive treatment, such as intubation, Man said.