COVID-19 patients discharged from Hainan makeshift hospital run by Shanghai medics

The makeshift hospital run by Shanghai's medical team in southern Hainan Province has discharged the first batch of recovered COVID-19 patients, health officials said on Tuesday.

The 14 patients, five males and nine females, all came from the B2 section run by Shanghai's Renji Hospital. Ranging from 19 to 53 years old, their average age is 35.6 years. Nine of them have light symptoms and five are asymptomatic infectors.

When they left the makeshift hospital on Sunday noon, Shanghai medics gave each of them a bouquet to celebrate their recovery.

The No. 3 makeshift hospital in Sanya consists of 17 sections with 1,760 beds. It is entirely managed by the Shanghai team, which has medics from 11 top city hospitals affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine.

The medical team arrived in Sanya, a popular beach destination known as China's Hawaii, on August 14 and immediately rushed to the site to coordinate the construction and preparation of the facility to ensure it could open and accept patients on the next day, according to schedule.

So far, the hospital has received 1,508 COVID-19 patients, 23 of whom have been transferred to other facilities and 14 discharged after recovery.

Dr Tao Tao from Renji Hospital is the medical chief of the B2 section. She saw off all the patients when they were discharged on Sunday. She said Hainan medics came to Shanghai during the pandemic resurgence in the city in March and it was now Shanghai medics' responsibility to help Hainan when the island is in trouble.

"We are medics and we must fight on the frontline of the anti-pandemic campaign," Tao pointed out.