The workers are wearing personal protective equipment, or PPE, designed to prevent exposure to infectious materials.

Infections and deaths from the novel coronavirus have continued to rise throughout China and around the world.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, how the new virus spreads isn't completely understood.

Here's the protective equipment that healthcare workers have worn during major outbreaks such as SARS and Ebola, and why it's crucial in the battle against the novel coronavirus epidemic.

PPE is used for a variety of hazards.

In the healthcare world, one of the biggest hazards is microbial and that could be viruses, bacteria, fungi, et cetera.

Some are fine-air particles that enter your lungs.

Some are contact materials.

Others can enter through various orifices, your nose or eyes.

So when we are choosing PPE, it is very important to understand the transmission.

Coronavirus is likely spread through a cough, sneeze or other contact with saliva.

But because much is unknown about the virus, healthcare workers are following precautions to prevent different types of exposure.

So today when you look at personal protective equipment for microbial risk, such as coronavirus, you're looking at four items.

And they would be a face shield, followed by a respirator of some sort, followed by a disposable coverall and finally gloves.

Coveralls, face shields, goggles and gloves protect against hazards like Ebola, that can spread by direct contact with bodily fluids.

The respirator prevents inhaling droplets in the air from sneezes and coughs.

Healthcare workers wore respirators while treating patients during the SARS and MERS outbreaks.

The most sort of effective way of these pathogens entering your body is through the respiratory system.

So that's why most PPE in healthcare settings tends to focus around respiratory protection, protecting what comes into your lungs.

The highly-infectious nature of Ebola led to the death of healthcare workers in Africa and exposed a potential fatal flaw in the use of PPE.

We learned very quickly that the sequence of taking off the clothing was very critical.

We had people making the mistake of taking off their gloves and then taking off their respirator or their eyeglasses or their face shield.

And that simple mistake of taking one off before the other contaminated them and, of course, they ended up with the disease.

The Ebola epidemic prompted an update of PPE guidelines by the WHO.

A global shortage of masks has emerged as everyday people try to protect themselves from the virus.

As you travel the streets of any city, especially in these days, you'll see a variety of respiratory protection.

You'll see people wearing bandanas.

You'll see people wearing surgical masks.

You'll see people wearing a very colorful masks that they buy downtown.

While both respirators and surgical masks are effective at filtering out large droplets, surgical masks are less effective at filtering out smaller droplets, which can be inhaled through the sides of the mask.

So what we have here is an N95 respirator.

It's 95 percent efficient, at particles down to 0.3 microns in diameter, very, very small.

As reference, your hair is 50 microns so this is 0.3, it's a fraction of your hair.

As healthcare officials look to contain the spread of the coronavirus, they will rely on the availability and proper use of PPE in impacted areas.

The key to stopping this epidemic is a combination of isolating those that are infected and making sure no one gets reinfected.

And the key for that infection would be personal protective equipment.

So it's not just about you wearing the equipment to protect your health, it's also about stopping the disease.

And in this case, personal protective equipment is really the vital answer to stopping this epidemic from spreading.