Story By: John Feng, Sub-Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Asia Wire Report
AsiaWire
This footage shows medics in full hazmat gear leading dozens of coronavirus patients in an impromptu line dance in order to lift their spirits and get them back on the way to recovery.
Footage filmed on 10th February shows mainly middle-aged and elderly patients joining in the exercise, which in China is known as ‘public square dancing’ due to the location it often takes place.
The video was taken at Wuhan Keting Hospital, a so-called ‘mobile hospital’ converted from Wuhan Keting Exhibition Center in Central China’s Hubei Province, and built in a matter of days.
It is one of 11 gymnasiums, stadiums or exhibition centres requisitioned by the municipal government for use as quarantine facilities.
Patients with less severe symptoms are sent to mobile hospitals for observation, and are then transferred to one of Wuhan’s dedicated coronavirus hospitals when their conditions worsen.
At least 13 universities have also been ordered to repurpose their dormitories to house the growing number of confirmed coronavirus patients in the locked-down city.
Doctor Yan Hao, who is with Yijishan Hospital in East China’s Anhui Province and now assisting in Wuhan, noted that patients housed in the city’s temporary hospitals were particularly anxious and low in spirits.
As they waited for their conditions to deteriorate, the patients often felt uneasy in the tense environment, Doctor Yan noted.
On his advice, head nurse Chen Xiaoyan has begun leading line dancing sessions twice a day.
AsiaWire
Similar exercise programmes are being used in all three zones – A to C – of Wuhan Keting Hospital, which has around 2,000 beds.
Ms Chen, who is with Wuhan Zhongnan Hospital, said: “The patients have arrived in a completely foreign environment. They’re very low.
“We’re trying to lift their spirits. It also helps to improve their immune system, allowing them to recover more quickly from their symptoms.”
The death toll from the Wuhan coronavirus has reached 1,016 in mainland China, with an additional two deaths reported in Hong Kong and the Philippines respectively.
The number of infected exceeded 43,000 worldwide.
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