A 200-strong contingent of professionals from a private domestic medical institution gathered in Shanghai on Wednesday and will depart for Hubei province on Thursday to support the fight against the novel coronavirus pneumonia outbreak.

The 40 doctors and 160 nurses from Health 100, a listed medical institution with more than 700 branches across the country, will be dispatched to two mobile cabin hospitals, where mild confirmed NCP patients are treated, and nine medical quarantine sites.

The institution said that more than 2,600 doctors and nurses had applied to join the effort after the chairman of its board announced last Friday his intention to form a team.

The team from Health 100 is the largest to be dispatched by a private medical institution that is approved by the National Health Commission. A second batch of 100 doctors and nurses from the medical institution will also head to Wuhan once they receive approval from health authorities.