A patient sends flowers to medics as he is discharged from the First Affiliated Hospital of the College of Medicine of Zhejiang University on Feb 28. [Photo/zj.zjol.com]

Editor's note: Since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus in January, Zhejiang province has been making vigorous efforts to fight it. This special series will take a close look at the measures the province has taken during the epidemic.

Thanks to the devotion of medical workers and researchers, many critically-ill COVID-19 patients in Zhejiang province have been discharged from the hospital, including a 96-year-old man and a pregnant woman of 35 weeks.

The province's first confirmed case was treated at the Sixth People's Hospital of Wenzhou and has been discharged. The province's first confirmed critically-ill case was treated at the Taizhou Public Health Medical Center and has also been discharged.

The center has also launched a special hotline to answer the public's questions about the disease.

The disease prevention and control center of Zhejiang successfully separated the strain of the novel coronavirus in late January, the first provincial-level disease prevention and control center in China to have done so.

It also established the nation's first online automated genome-wide testing and analysis platform, which cuts the time required for a gene analysis of suspected cases to half an hour.

Zhejiang has carried out extensive research into the virus source, virus spread, testing, effective drugs, vaccines and traditional Chinese medicine therapies.

Fang Qiang is a chief physician at the ICU of the First Affiliated Hospital of College of Medicine of Zhejiang University, the only provincial-level designated hospital for COVID-19.

A sketch of Fang Qiang, a chief physician at the ICU of the First Affiliated Hospital of College of Medicine of Zhejiang University [Photo/zj.zjol.com]

Fang has decades of ICU working experience. According to Fang, most ICU patients are seniors suffering from many pre-existing illnesses.

"The biggest challenge we face every day is stabilizing patients' symptoms. Treating ICU patient isn't easy, but we always do our best," said Fang.

"The outbreak has revealed the importance of a sound public health and safety management system to a country," said Ouyang Hongwei, director of the Zhejiang University-University of Edinburgh Institute, commending the achievements that Zhejiang has made in facilitating cooperation between medical institutions, universities and enterprises in clinical treatment, scientific research and technology application.

"The achievements can be attributed to the province's efforts to promote internet technologies and life sciences in recent years," Ouyang said.

Bai Chunxue, a chief physician at the respiratory medicine department of Zhongshan Hospital attached with Fudan University in Shanghai, added that government efforts also played a vital role.

"We have been in close cooperation with Taizhou during the epidemic, promoting an intelligent auxiliary diagnosis and treatment system to other places. The city has taken strict measures, pooled its medical resources, and organized for 20 internet hospitals to follow up on suspected cases," said Bai.