A COVID-19 patient who received transplanted lungs was discharged from the hospital in Wuhan, Hubei Province, on Tuesday.

Photos: People's Daily app

The patient, surnamed Cui, 65, received double-lung transplant surgery at Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University on April 20, and is the first of 10 people with COVID-19 worldwide to be discharged after having their lungs replaced.

Diagnosed with COVID-19 on January 23 and hospitalized later, his condition worsened sharply and was not expected to survive.  

Cui spent 62 days of his 166 days in hospital under extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) therapy: attached to a machine that provides cardiac and respiratory support to patients with failing heart and lungs. 

He spent 92 days recovering from the transplant surgery with the care and assistance of more than 20 medical staff at Renmin Hospital.

(Compiled by Chen Tianxin)