Protecting healthcare personnel from 2019-nCoV infection risks: lessons and suggestions

Abstract

The outbreak of a novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19, caused by the 2019-nCoV infection) in December 2019 is one of the most severe public health emergencies since the founding of People’s Republic of China in 1949. Healthcare personnel (HCP) nationwide are facing heavy workloads and high risk of infection, especially those who care for patients in Hubei Province. Sadly, as of February 20, 2020, over two thousand COVID-19 cases are confirmed among HCP from 476 hospitals nationwide, with nearly 90% of them from Hubei Province. Based on literature search and interviews with some HCP working at Wuhan, capital city of Hubei, we have summarized some of the effective measures taken to reduce infection among HCP, and also made suggestions for improving occupational safety during an infectious disease outbreak. The experience and lessons learned should be a valuable asset for international health community to contain the ongoing COVID-19 epidemic around the world.

Keywords

healthcare personnel / COVID-19 / infectious diseases

References

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[3] National Health Commission of the People’s Republic of China. Notification for further strengthening the protection of health personnel during 2019-nCoV outbreak. February 19, 2020.(in Chinese)

[4] The State Council. Press Conference of the Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism of the State Council. February 20, 2020.(in Chinese)

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Acknowledgements

We would like to extend sincere gratitude to Mengyun Luo, Yue Fang, Kun Qian, Xueyuan Li, Jiawei Xu, and Jiahui Li who collected data.

Compliance with ethics guidelines

Zhiruo Zhang, Shelan Liu, Mi Xiang, Shijian Li, Dahai Zhao, Chaolin Huang, and Saijuan Chen declare no conflicts of interest. This manuscript is a commentary and does not involve a research protocol requiring approval by the relevant institutional review board or ethics committee.

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2020 Higher Education Press and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature