Watch: Nurse At China Coronavirus Hospital Gives Crying Daughter An 'Air Hug'

Unable to hold and comfort her crying daughter due to fear of infection, a nurse working at a hospital for coronavirus patients in China's Henan Province was seen giving her a hug from a distance, in a moving video that shows the emotional toll of the virus outbreak.

In the video tweeted by China's Xinhua News, the nurse is seen extending her arms in the air to console her daughter, who is crying uncontrollably. The child reciprocates and tells her mother that she misses her a lot. "Mum is fighting monsters. I'll be back home once the virus is beaten," the nurse tells her daughter. Both of them wear protective masks.

A Chinese nurse in a coronavirus-hit hospital in Henan Province gives her sobbing daughter an "air hug." #coronavirus pic.twitter.com/mNZ5SFcPYk

- China Xinhua News (@XHNews) February 4, 2020

The nurse tells her daughter to "be good" and waves at her. Since they are not allowed to have direct contact, the child puts food that she has brought for her mother on the ground. The nurse, then, gives her daughter a final wave. 

Coronavirus spreads from person to person in close proximity, similar to the common flu.

The deaths from coronavirus soared to 803 on Sunday. The number is now higher than the global number of deaths caused by the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak, which killed 774 people in 2002-2003, news agency AFP reported.

The nurse's inconsolable daughter returned her 'air hug'. 

The novel coronavirus that originated in China's Wuhan has spiralled into a global health emergency, spreading to 27 countries and regions.

China has struggled to contain the outbreak, despite having put 56 million people under effective lockdown in Hubei province, where Wuhan is situated. Other cities far from the epicentre have also placed travel restrictions on people.

India, Germany, UK, US Australia and several other nations have evacuated citizens from China, placing them in quarantine facilities upon their return. Several countries have even banned flights to China.

(With inputs from AFP)