Fig. 1

The schematic of a ‘Five-zones’ hierarchical management. The hospitals in Honghu that specialized in receiving COVID-19 patients were re-divided. The ‘red zone’ received only cases with potentially fatal or severe pneumonia. The ‘yellow zone’ mainly received cases with common or mild pneumonia, while the ‘blue zone’ received suspected cases with mild symptoms. Recovered cases would be transferred to the ‘green zone’ for medical observation. The ‘Five-Zone’ management of organization and coordination of medical wards realized targeted management and treatment for patients with different levels of disease severity