One of the first known coronavirus victims has RECOVERED: Chinese seafood merchant, 57, beat the virus and is now healthy and home
- Wei Guixian was first taken ill at the Hua’nan market in Wuhan on December 10
- She has since been discharged after paying 70,000 yuan (£8,467) medical bills
- But her daughter, who also tested positive for COVID-19, remains in field hospital
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One of the first known coronavirus sufferers has been able to return home after recovering from the deadly pathogen.
Chinese seafood merchant Wei Guixian, 57, was discharged from hospital in early January after paying 70,000 yuan (£8,467) in medical bills.
She is now in good health and has returned to her two-bedroom apartment but her daughter, who tested positive for COVID-19 in mid-January, remains in a field hospital.
Chinese seafood merchant Wei Guixian, who worked at the Hua’nan market in Wuhan (pictured), was discharged from hospital in early January after paying 70,000 yuan (£8,467) in medical bills
Ms Wei was first taken ill at the Hua’nan market in Wuhan on December 10 but dismissed the symptoms as the onset of a common cold.
She initially went to a private clinic near her home where she was administered with antibiotics on an intravenous drip after doctors believed she was suffering with bronchitis.
But just days later she was admitted to the respiratory ward at the Xiehe Hospital when she began losing consciousness.
Doctors carried out a serious of tests including a throat swab and endoscopies but the street vendor could not be officially diagnosed.
Doctors carried out a serious of tests including a throat swab and endoscopies but the street vendor could not be officially diagnosed. Pictured: Medical staff treating COVID-19 patients at a hospital in Wuhan
It took weeks before Ms Wei’s symptoms were connected to those of other cases in the area with many of the sufferers being other market vendors.
Ms Wei was eventually put into quarantine with doctors administering her treatment from behind face masks.
She was eventually able to recover and has since been discharged from hospital.
Speaking to the Wall Street Journal, Ms Wei said despite her hefty medical bills she considers herself lucky.
She added: ‘Some people spent so much money and still couldn’t buy their lives.’
Ms Wei is now in good health and has returned to her two-bedroom apartment but her daughter, who tested positive for COVID-19 in mid-January, remains in a field hospital (pictured)
Ms Wei now believes that she may have been infected with coronavirus via the toilet she shared with the wild meat sellers on the market.
She said that both vendors on either side of her stall both tested positive for the virus as well as one of her daughters, her niece and her niece’s husband.
Ms Wei said that ‘a lot fewer people would have died’ in China had the government acted sooner.
There are so far more than 301,463 confirmed cases of coronavirus around the world with 12,911 deaths.