As of 24:00, March 12th, no new COVID-19 cases were reported in Guangdong, and so the total number of infected patients remains at 1356.

A total of 14 cities currently have zero COVID-19 patients being treated in hospitals with all having been confirmed healthy and discharged, according to Liu Guanxian, a counselor of Guangdong Health Commission. These cities are Zhuhai, Shaoguan, Heyuan, Meizhou, Huizhou, Shanwei, Jiangmen, Yangjiang, Zhanjiang, Maoming, Zhaoqing, Qingyuan, Chaozhou and Jieyang.

The 42nd press conference on Guangdong's fight against COVID-19 was held in Guangzhou today.



Liu said that Guangdong has taken effective measures to increase recovery rates and lower the rate of mortality since the outbreak of the epidemic in the province. Among the recovered cases, 280 patients aged over 60 account for 21.6% of the total number, 279 with underlying diseases are a further 21.5%, and four have received extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) support.

Qin Tiehe, director of the ICU at Guangdong Provincial People’s Hospital, explained that the intensive care facilities are well-developed around the province and that all cities have well-equipped ICUs, vital to treating patients.

The province has also developed a team of multidisciplinary experts who will screen COVID-19 cases and monitor patients’ condition every day to prevent their state from getting worse, Qin added.

Liu Yingxia, deputy head of the Third People’s Hospital of Shenzhen, pointed out that plasma therapy is a historic but innovative emergency treatment. As of March 12th, a total of 40 cured coronavirus patients donated plasma in Guangdong, 17 critically ill patients have received the plasma therapy and none have shown any adverse reactions, and 11 have now gotten better.

“I sincerely thank all the donors,” Liu said, “And I am appealing to more recovered patients to donate their plasma, because this will bring more hope to severely or critically ill patients.”

Liu continued that nurses play a crucial role in saving patients.

“Especially for many critical cases, it is the nurses who first find out changes in patients’ symptoms or vital signs, which buys doctors time for standardized treatment,” Liu stressed.

Authors: Monica Liu, Steven Yuen

Editors: Simon Haywood, Keane Wong