In less than 20 hours, new team dispatched from Chongqing

The ninth medical team of 102 members from Chongqing leave for Hubei province on Saturday to help control the novel coronavirus epidemic. The municipality in Southwest China has so far sent nine teams, a total of 769 medical professionals, to the neighboring province. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

In less than 20 hours after Chongqing received an order from the central government, the municipality sent yet another medical team of 102 members to Central China's Hubei province on Saturday evening to help control the novel coronavirus, the local government said.

The municipality in Southwest China has so far sent nine teams, with a total of 769 medical professionals, to Hubei.

In Wuhan, capital of the province and epicenter of the outbreak in China, there are 467 medical workers from Chongqing battling the contagion.

The teams consist of experienced doctors and nurses from eight hospital departments of pneumology, ICU and infections, as well as other related areas.

The Chinese mainland reported 2,048 new confirmed cases of novel coronavirus infection on Sunday, bringing the total to 70,548 as of the end of Sunday.

Hubei province reported 1,933 new confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus and 100 new fatalities on Sunday.