With the death toll from the novel coronavirus now over 100 and more than 4,000 confirmed cases worldwide, medical workers by the thousands are headed to the central China city of Wuhan. Doctors are making extreme sacrifices to help.

Inside the ICU ward of Wuhan Pulmonary Hospital, doctors and nurses were busy treating about ten patients suffering life-threatening cases of the novel coronavirus when the CGTN team visited. The patients were all infected with the new type of coronavirus.

Doctor-on-duty Chen Yumei was among the 30 medical workers in the ward. The longest shift for each could be 20 hours. She was supposed to get married this weekend.

"Things were all set for my wedding. But due to the epidemic, I had to cancel it," Chen said.

Each person at work has different situations, said Chen, adding that the whole team had made sacrifices.

"All I can do was to comfort my family over the phone because I can't even go home due to the mass transit shutdown in the city," Chen said.

"In times of war, soldiers should be on the frontlines. If there is a fire, firefighters should be there. We as doctors should commit to our responsibilities and missions," she stressed.

In a message for patients' family members, Chen reassured them that she and the other doctors were doing their best to cure their loved ones.

(By CGTN's Zhao Yunfei, Meng Mingwei, Xing Xuanmin)