What is the infection rate of medical workers in China? What are the main causes of infection?

It is important to note that the information provided in this Series is intended for your general knowledge only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice or treatment.

According to the largest study on COVID-19 in China to date, among the 44,672 confirmed cases reported to the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as of February 11, 1,716 were healthcare workers. Given the total number of medical workers in China (11.749 million in 2017), this ratio is very low. A report shows that most of the healthcare personnel infections (63 percent, 1080/1716) occurred in Wuhan [1].

There were three main reasons for healthcare personnel getting infected when taking care of patients with COVID-19. The first one was inadequate self-protection due to limited knowledge on the novel coronavirus especially in the early days. The second one was that some healthcare personnel in general wards failed to screen out the concomitant COVID-19 when the patients sought medical assistance primarily for reasons other than typical COVID-19 symptoms. Besides, shortages of PPE caused by the rapid increase of COVID-19 patients worsened the situation.

In contrast, the number of healthcare workers infection decreased significantly thereafter. For instance, more than 40,000 healthcare workers were mobilized to support Hubei province and followed Level III Protection standards. None of them has been reported to be positive so far in nucleic acid tests (NCT) or antibodies tests after 14 days of medical observation.

Reference:
[1] Wu Z, McGoogan JM. Characteristics of and important lessons from the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak in China. JAMA. Published online February 24, 2020. doi:10.1001/jama.2020.2648.

Author: Dr. Zhou Jiancang, MD, Executive Vice-President of Jiangshan Hospital affiliated to Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine (Intensive care attending physician)