China reports 1,300 more coronavirus cases among medical workers
- New cases push total among health staff past 3,000, according to authorities
- Another Wuhan doctor says she was silenced after raising concerns about human-to-human transmission
The Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Monday that by February 11 there were more than 3,000 coronavirus cases among medical workers, 1,716 of whom had tested positive and showed symptoms.
Hours after the new numbers were released, authorities announced that Liu Zhiming, head of Wuchang Hospital in Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak in central China, died aged 50.
Liu, a neurosurgeon, was diagnosed with Covid-19, the disease caused by the virus, in late January and had been in a critical condition for days, his wife told Red Star News, a news site operated by Chengdu Media Group.
He is the second medical worker to die from the disease at the hospital in a week; 59-year-old nurse Liu Fan died on Friday.
Infections among medical workers have triggered widespread anger, particularly after it emerged that some doctors had raised concerns about the dangers but were ignored or silenced.
