Year of the Mask; COVID-19 Challenges for Orthopaedic Surgery
As a response to the viral pneumonias and severe illnesses that were emerging in patients, an ophthalmologist November 2019 a novel coronavirus emerged in Wuhan, Hubei, China Dr Li Wenliang, working at Wuhan Central Hospital, voiced his concerns only to be severely admonished by the authorities. The accelerated spread of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in Wuhan, and then globally, as a result of the novel coronavirus was acute and pronounced. China alerted the World Health Organisation to several pneumonia cases at the end of December 2019 and the first death was recorded in early January 2020. The respiratory physician Dr Nanshan Zhong, announced human-to-human spread and a few days later on the 23 January 2020, Wuhan was placed under quarantine. The virus spread outside China and the WHO declared the outbreak a global health emergency on 30 January 2020. Tragically Dr Li Wenliang died on 7 February 2020 as a result of exposure to the virus, leaving a five-year-old son and a pregnant wife.