Fully prepared

Wu Shaowei, a 37-year-old physician working in the coronary care unit at Wuhan Asia Heart Hospital, has been unable to return to his home in Hong Kong.

Although not assigned to care for infected patients, he has to remain in protective clothing in the isolation ward, as critically ill patients with heart disease are at risk from the virus.

Due to a shortage of staff members, Wu had to work round-the-clock before being given four days' off. But even when he is not working, he is on call for emergency operations, such as installing a coronary stent.

His 4-year-old son and his wife are in Guangdong province, while his parents are at home in Hong Kong.

When he is not at work, Wu cooks Cantonese-style food and listens to Cantonese music. "As a doctor, I am mentally prepared to take on my responsibilities," he said.

"There are just too many patients. The virus is everywhere. Even though you are fully protected, you still have a chance of becoming infected."

His family worries about him, but can do little apart from talk to him every day via video calls. "What can you do?" he said, before pausing and sighing.

"Some critically ill patients who are in their 80s are very pessimistic," he added.

Tse, founder of the two Hong Kong-invested hospitals, said that to a certain degree, everyone had been too slow to respond to the outbreak. Only when Wuhan was locked down on Jan 23 did they realize how serious it was and started to increase their vigilance.

"I think that if people had taken precautionary measures earlier, the situation might not be so bad," he said.