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57 4. The doctor wanted to diagnose the patients to A. discharge patients from the hospital as early as possible. B. find medication to cure COVID-19. C. treat patients as early as possible. 5. The doctor‘s advice is to A. be calm. B. visit hospitals as often as possible. C. get worried as soon as possible. With over 30 years of experience, I was eager to contribute to the front line, but the severity and massive scale of the epidemic was also intimidating. I eventually got the phone call to go on 10 February, and I was told that I was going to lead a team to the city of Huangshi. In less than 24 hours, I had to as- semble a temporary medical team of 310 people from a dozen hospitals, so I was really pressed. By the time we arrived, there was close to 800 patients, including around 100 in a critical condition. The medical staff were very tired, and there was a shortage of protective materials. For the first two weeks, we worked almost around the clock. There was almost no time to eat, let alone to contact our families. We renovated the hos- pital to increase the number of beds, and concentrated critical patients in one of the best-equipped hospitals. Although there is no medication to cure COVID-19, my experience is that it is important to diagnose and seek to treat patients as early as possible. I have seen some encouraging cases: a 93-year-old patient in critical condition recov- ered, and another patient was discharged from hospital after two rounds of ventilator intubation. For the general public, my main message is “don’t panic!”. When there was a big rise in cases, many people were panicked, and flocked to the hospit- als, which caused cross-infection. So, stay calm, and stay indoors whenever possible. Adapted from https://news.un.org/en/story/2020/03/1060482

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