Coronavirus patient cured in Guizhou, says official Chinese media

Chinese media outlets said on Thursday that a man who contracted novel coronavirus in Guizhou, southwest China, has reportedly been cured.

The man was discharged from Affiliated Hospital of Guizhou Medical University in Guiyang, Guizhou Province, on Wednesday, according to a report by China’s official Xinhua News Agency.

The coronavirus is classified as an epidemic and had killed 170 people and infected 7,700 globally as of January 30. In the Middle East, one case has been reported in Jordan, and four in the UAE.

But medical experts previously confirmed to Al Arabiya English that there is no cure for the virus, known by many as corona.

“There is no known treatment for coronavirus. The antibiotics of course do not work because they do not work against viruses,” said Dr. Rebecca Fischer of Texas A&M School of Public Health’s Epidemiology & Biostatistics department.

So far, medical experts have only been able to give advice on preventing, rather than curing, the virus.

Chinese media did not provide any further explanation of how the man had been cured.

Chinese authorities have insisted they are dealing with the virus, and the country's anti-corruption watchdog said on Thursday it will severely punish officials who slack off on the job. On Tuesday, Chinese Premier Xi Jinping had vowed the country will defeat the “devil” coronavirus but acknowledged that it remained a “grim and complex” task.

In the city of Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak, authorities are constructing a makeshift hospital.