Coronavirus outbreak: China health body warns against excessive use of protective suits

Health authorities in China on Sunday called for "reasonable use" of protective suits to help contain coronavirus and cautioned against "excessive and disorderly" use of the clothing that would waste resources and could also increase infection.

China's National Health Commission in a statement said that the warning has come as the country is facing a severe shortage of equipment, including suits, masks, and goggles, to protect medical workers from infection, Al Jazeera reported.

Last month, the UNICEF shipped respiratory masks and protective suits for health workers in China to support the country's response to the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) outbreak.

Coronaviruses are transmitted through direct contact, respiratory droplets from coughing and sneezing, and touching surfaces contaminated with the virus. Symptoms include fever, cough, shortness of breath and breathing difficulties.

In more severe cases, the infection can cause pneumonia, severe acute respiratory syndrome, kidney failure, and even death.

According to the National Health Commission of China, the death toll in the mainland from the new pneumonia-causing virus reached 813 today.

More people so far have died from the virus in China than did worldwide during the 2002-2003 outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), with the total number of infections in the country rising to 37,198.

Major airlines have suspended flights to and from China and several countries have evacuated their citizens from Wuhan and the wider Hubei province in a bid to stop the spread of the infection.