Original subtitles

I can't hear you.

What's going on?

This morning, I saw that the whole Wuhan city was closed. All the bus stations

were closed.

At the moment, we need to continue to focus and catch up with Hubei province,

especially Wuhan city's epidemic prevention and control.

I'm scared.

It's fake to say I'm not scared.

Then I measured the temperature, 37 .5 degrees.

I said, we're done.

Don't think that Wuhan people are all sick.

Life is too hard.

I'm here.

I must survive.

These two days, medical teams from Shanghai, Zhejiang, Hainan, and Jiangxi

been dispatched.

But if we don't learn from him, we won't be able to do anything.

10 a .m., January 23rd.

Wuhan goes into lockdown, an effort to stop a deadly virus from spreading

further through the nation.

Chen Hung,

a migrant worker, was among those who were forced to stay.

He and his fellow workmates finally found a

shelter, an underground parking lot.

As Chen was walking in the rain, the number of confirmed coronavirus patients

Wuhan on day one of the lockdown was announced, 495.

Ten times the number two weeks earlier.

Nine million people were still in the city.

These authorities have traced a new deadly virus from the wildlife sold in

seafood market in Wuhan that was illegally selling wildlife.

This seafood market was once believed to be the ground zero of the virus

outbreak. Local authorities shut the market on January 1st, but the virus was

already on the move.

Dr. Zhao Zhigang was one of the first medical workers to face the virus in

Wuhan.

Wild animals were blamed, but evidence already pointed to human -to -human

transmission.

83 -year -old epidemiologist Zhong Nanshan, regarded as a national hero

during the 2002 -2003 SARS crisis, broke the news to the public.

It alerted people across China while the situation in Wuhan deteriorated.

Dr. Zhao's patient never visited the seafood market, but the virus was there

anyway. Two days later, it was confirmed, and Zhao was now infected.

More

of Zhao's

co -workers started to show symptoms.

Wuhan's 38 ,000 licensed medical workers were stretched thin as the virus

progressed. As people turned up at fever clinics, the city's health system was

buckling under the strain.

On the second day of the lockdown, work began on a new hospital.

The new Huoshenshan Hospital would have 1 ,000 beds specially designed to treat

coronavirus patients.

But one new hospital was not enough. A

second emergency hospital promising another 1 ,500 beds was planned.

On Chinese New Year's Eve, a night for family reunion, more than 1 ,200 medical

workers across China were drafted to aid Wuhan.

On New Year's Day, President Xi Jinping chaired a meeting of the Politburo

Standing Committee, stressing safety and health were the top priority.

and containing the epidemic was the most important task.

I'm declaring a public health emergency of international concern over the global

outbreak of novel coronavirus.

On January 31st, the World Health Organization declared the outbreak a

health emergency of international concern.

The fight to cage the viper is no longer just about Wuhan.

The main reason for this declaration is not because of what is happening in

China. Our greatest concern is the potential.

for the virus to spread to countries with weaker health systems.

Cities across China started to put medical supply factories back to work.

in Wuhan, general hospitals started to modify their regular wards into

quarantine rooms for treating severely ill coronavirus patients.

We entered one of the wards, but we were told that nothing could be taken into

the quarantine area, including cameras.

The vice president of the hospital said that whatever goes inside needs to stay

inside.

Doctors and nurses have to wear two layers of protective suits, hand gloves,

shoe covers, face masks and goggles before entering the special ward.

Finally, a GoPro was allowed inside, which had to be put into disinfectant

whole day after filming.

During their six -hour shift, they can't drink, eat or even use the toilet.

This is Dr. Tang Xin.

He hasn't been home for two weeks.

Tang says severely ill patients need special care.

The bells of the patients haven't stopped ringing, nurses have to rush to

them all the time.

When the shift ends, Dr. Tang Xin is finally able to take off his protective

gear. He has a rash all over his body.

To

keep

up with the workload, medical workers need to eat more.

They, let me tell you, the boys in our department are smaller than us.

They are as big as a cat.

Now you can eat a lot. Yeah, you can't eat too much.

We have to rely on our strength.

Sometimes we have to help patients.

Right?

Two people in one room. We have three rooms.

Four rooms are ours.

Two people in one room. Two people in one room.

Two people in one room. It's so narrow.

Then Jiang Jiuqian will sleep first.

When you came here today, you and your friends were in a good state.

You have to get high.

If you don't get high, how are you going to face it? If you want to suppress it,

you're done.

We're like this.

But they also have fear.

Oh, it's you.

Look, your teeth haven't grown yet.

By early February, over 10 ,000 medical workers from the rest of China had gone

to help.

And that number tripled in the following weeks.

Doctors and nurses from 16 provinces were also drafted to help cities

surrounding Wuhan, one province taking care of one city.

Good news came out on February 2nd. The first emergency hospital, Huoshenshan,

started to take in severely ill coronavirus patients, less than two

construction work began.

But a shortage of test kits was slowing the

process of confirming cases.

And there still weren't enough hospital beds.

The city said it would send all confirmed patients to hospitals so that

majority of the 9 million people in lockdown could be safe.

Many people with the virus were still out in the community.

They needed to be separated to stop the virus spreading.

57 -year -old Wei Qingwei tested positive for coronavirus pneumonia on

25th. Since then, he has been staying home alone.

Wei is reluctant to go to the quarantine hospital.

Because of the shortage of ambulances, the local police send a van to take Mr.

Wei to the hospital.

After a 15 -minute drive, Wei arrives at a quarantine center for non -severe

patients. His anxiety eases when he opens his lunchbox at the hospital.

Dozens of quarantine centres were now opened across the city.

Those in quarantine included people who had close contact with confirmed

patients,

fever patients and people with clinical symptoms that had not yet been

confirmed.

On February 5th, Dr. Zhao Zhegang was well enough to return to work.

The fatality rate of the virus is now under 3%, less than half that for SARS.

But it's more contagious.

On February 3rd, the nationwide death toll reached 361, overtaking SARS.

But the next day, newly confirmed patients started to slow down outside

province, where Wuhan is the provincial capital.

A sign that the lockdown on Wuhan might have started to work.

By the third week of the lockdown, over 10 ,000 cases were confirmed, and tens

of thousands more were suspected in Wuhan.

But fewer than 200 hospital beds were available.

The government decided to convert public buildings, such as stadiums and

convention centers, into temporary hospitals.

The first three offered more than 4 ,000 beds.

25 -year -old Ms. Shen was transferred to a temporary hospital from a hotel

had been turned into a quarantine center.

The temporary hospitals only take in patients with mild symptoms.

Patients admitted can basically take care of themselves.

This woman is waiting in line to fetch some hot water.

Because of similar protective

suits A patient mistakes the CGTN reporter for his doctor.

Mr.

Ye is a Muslim from Qinghai province. He was infected during a trip to Wuhan.

One woman is critical of the original response to the crisis.

A local doctor, Li Wenliang, tried to alert people about the virus a month

before the lockdown, but he was reprimanded by the local authorities.

Then, he too became sick.

CGTN reached out to him, but he was already severely ill with the

But that day never came.

On February 7th, Li passed away.

Amid a public uproar, the central government sent a special team to

the circumstances leading to Dr. Li's death.

In this battle against the virus, over 3 ,000 medical workers were infected in

China. Many are in Wuhan.

A dozen died.

As doctors and nurses risk their lives in the wards residents in Wuhan are

their part to pull the city together.

Gloves and protective suits have been donated from across China and even from

overseas.

Distributing them is a challenge.

But here comes Wu Yao, a mother of two and an owner of a local spa, and also a

volunteer.

The delivery isn't easy.

It takes time to find the right entrance. Most of the gates are closed

public to prevent contamination.

When we get there, doctors are already waiting.

Wu's delivery is of 2 ,400 such medical masks. Very hard to get now.

Not all volunteers' families are happy about what they are doing.

Couriers are essential in this crisis.

We meet some of them who are delivering medical equipment.

This one has no time to talk.

We follow him to a warehouse and meet a nurse who

coordinates the distribution of medical supplies.

Only three express companies insisted on providing service in town, but only for

sending and receiving medical goods.

Sure lives alone in Wuhan while his family lives in a remote village.

He often has to go to hospitals with coronavirus patients.

On February 12th, more than 10 ,000 new cases were announced

The surge came when health authorities started to use clinical symptoms to

determine a coronavirus patient rather than relying on slow tests.

On the same day, President Xi led another meeting of the Politburo

Committee. The meeting concluded that formalism and bureaucracy were big

in the fight against the virus.

The next day, Hubei province and the city of Wuhan saw a change in leadership

and more stringent measures to tackle the epidemic.

More help arrived.

Another 1 ,400 military medics were sent to Wuhan on February 13th. Eleven

military aircraft brought medical teams and supplies.

It's the first time that China's Y -20 transport plane is taking part in an

operation outside of military drills.

By now, more than 30 ,000 medical workers had been sent to Wuhan from 29

provinces and regions.

Production of protective gear was also picking up.

Hubei province can now get over 300 ,095 medical masks per day, up from

35 ,000 per day in late January.

On February 17th, Wuhan said the city was finally able to quarantine all

who might spread the virus.

How did they do it?

Walking, knocking, and more knocking.

Li checks 1 ,000 residents' health status to uncover coronavirus cases

her jurisdiction, or what she calls the grid.

This has become a daily routine for Wuhan's community workers during the

outbreak.

And to keep the virus away from the healthy population the city has

its lockdown measures.

Everyone is ordered to stay home until further notice.

Only residents with medical emergencies or those with jobs relating to fighting

the epidemic are allowed to leave.

Groceries are purchased online, left at the entrances, and picked up later to

avoid contact.

I don't know.

Staying at home might avoid unnecessary contact, but there's a price to pay.

Nevertheless, demobilizing people in Wuhan is key to cutting off paths for

virus to spread.

The opinion of the joint mission, after looking at this very, very closely and

in different ways, that there's no question that China's bold approach to

rapid spread of this new respiratory pathogen has changed the course of what

a rapidly escalating and continues to be deadly epidemic.

And I just thought it's so important that we recognize that. And to the

of Wuhan, it is recognized that the world's in your debt.

And when this disease finishes, hopefully we'll have a chance to thank

people of Wuhan for the role that they've played in it because many of us,

of the people here have suffered, but the people of that city have gone

an extraordinary period and they're still going through it.

after the lockdown it seems like an end is approaching more and more provinces

start to see no increase in confirmed cases and in Wuhan patients with

coronavirus symptoms no longer need to wait for days for the nucleic acid test

the number of daily new cases is on the verge of dropping into double digits

doctors and nurses can't relax but the country is behind them

The battle isn't over.

But people are now looking ahead to the day when love and life can resume.