Xue said: "I'm so sorry I cannot be present at the birth of my daughter, but I'm sure she'll understand my decision when she grows up. We will name her when I return to Shanghai after we have won the battle against the virus."

A total of 350 medical workers from Shanghai flew to Wuhan on Feb 9 and began their work at local hospitals the next day.

The team from Ruijin Hospital, whose youngest member is a 23-year-old nurse, is treating critically ill patients at the Guanggu branch of Tongji Hospital in Wuhan. A 214-member team from Shanghai Huashan Hospital, with an average age of 32, is caring for patients in intensive care units at the same hospital. More than half the members of this team were born in the 1990s.

Ning Guang, president of Ruijin Hospital Affiliated with Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, said, "It doesn't mean that these young medical workers are not concerned about their own safety, but we are often dubbed 'angels in white' and we need to live up to our name."

Xu Shikun, a 25-year-old nurse, was among the first group of Shanghai medical workers to go to Wuhan, leaving home on Jan 24, Lunar New Year's Eve－traditionally a time for family reunions.