Coronavirus: Some recovered patients ‘may have reduced lung function’, doctors find

‘They gasp if they walk a bit more quickly,’ doctor says

Patients who recover from the coronavirus can suffer reduced lung function, with some left gasping for air when walking quickly, doctors in Hong Kong have said.

Hong Kong’s Hospital Authority released its findings after doctors held follow-up appointments with around a dozen people who had been discharged after suffering from Covid-19.

Of those discharged, two to three were unable to do the things they had been able to do in the past.

“They gasp if they walk a bit more quickly,” Dr Owen Tsang Tak-yin, medical director of the authority’s Infectious Disease Centre, said on Thursday, according to the South China Morning Post.

“Some patients might have around a drop of 20 to 30 per cent in lung function [after recovery].”

Mr Tsang said the patients would undergo tests to assess how much lung function they retained.

He also said physiotherapy would be used to strengthen their lungs.

A review of lung scans of nine infected patients found patterns similar to frosted glass in all of them, suggesting organ damage.

Mr Tsang said the long-term effect of coronavirus on recovered patients, such as whether they would develop pulmonary fibrosis, was yet to be understood.

He recommended discharged patients should do cardiovascular exercise, such as swimming, to help their lungs recover.

Hong Kong has confirmed around 130 coronavirus cases so far, with four people dying after testing positive for the disease.

On Thursday it announced that travellers from country’s in Europe’s border-free Schengen zone will need to undergo a 14-day quarantine from 17 March.

It also issued a red outbound travel alert on European countries, urging the public planning to travel to those countries to adjust their plans and avoid non-essential trips.