Important role of emergency department doctors after the outbreak of covid-19 in China

Dear Editor, Up to 20:40 14 April 2020, there have been 50 008 diagnosed covid-19 cases in Wuhan. Among them, 2579 patients died. The number of covid-19 cases in Wuhan increased from 4100 to 49 122 during February and became stable in March, and about 20% of them required intensive care unit (ICU) admission. More than 10 hospitals were newly built after February 2020 for admission of all the patients. Unfortunately, there was a shortage of ICU beds and medical staff in Wuhan, due to the large number of patients to be covered for ICU care. Accordingly, many of the general wards were quickly transformed to ICUs. Over 30 000 medical staff including about 3000 physicians and nurses of ED from different cities …