It was mid-February, and the battle against the novel coronavirus seemed to be at a stalemate. They were the worst days so far for Intensive Care Unit (ICU) doctor Li Xu’s ongoing temporary assignment of over 45 days to the Third People’s Hospital of Shenzhen, the only location for treating COVID-19 patients in the city.

“Though no new patients came in, the current patients were not getting any better. It was like the battle that had reached a standstill,” the 35-year-old Chinese-mainland doctor said. The morale of Li and his colleagues plummeted to a new low when two patients died, one after another.

On Jan 31, Li was sent from the University of Hong Kong–Shenzhen Hospital to the Third People’s Hospital of Shenzhen, the city’s only hospital admitting coronavirus patients. His assignment was to save the lives of the most severely ill patients infected by the coronavirus.

A 36-year-old patient there surnamed Hu was near death. Li’s team was dedicated to saving her. Large areas of her lungs were severely infected, and she was being kept alive on a ventilator. Li made up his mind — he must not let her die.

Hu came back to Shenzhen with the disease after visiting relatives in Wuhan, Hubei province. Her visit to the early epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in late January took a heavy toll on her family. Her husband, mother and 7-year-old daughter were also infected. They recovered and were discharged, but Hu’s condition had deteriorated. She was intubated and kept sedated for more than 10 days.