At least 90 percent of a sample group of COVID-19 recovered patients in China’s Wuhan city have reported lung damage, according to a media report. Five percent of them are again in quarantine after testing positive for the virus.
At least 90 percent of a sample group of COVID-19 recovered patients in China’s Wuhan city have reported lung damage, according to a media report. Five percent of them are again in quarantine after testing positive for the virus.
A team at the Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University has been conducting follow-up visits with 100 recovered patients since April. The first phase of the one-year programme finished in July. The average age of the patients in the study in 59.
The results of the first phase have revealed that 90 percent of the patients’ lungs are still in a damaged state, which means their lungs ventilation and gas exchange functions have not recovered to the level of healthy people, the Global Times reported.
The team led by Peng Zhiyong, director of the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit, conducted a six-minute walking test with the patients. It was observed that the recovered patients could only walk 400 metres in six munutes while their healthy peers could walk 500 metres in the same period.
Some recovered patients have to rely on oxygen machines even three months after being discharged from the hospital, Liang Tengxiao, a doctor from the Dongzhimen Hospital, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, was quoted as saying by the report.❐
