FIRST CORONAVIRUS PATIENT IN KOREA CURED

[Anchor Lead]

The Chinese woman who was the very first person in Korea to contract the novel coronavirus has been cured of the disease and released from the hospital. She wrote a thank-you letter to the Korean doctors for saving her life.

[Pkg]

A 35-year-old Chinese woman who had flew in from Wuhan was the first confirmed patient of the coronavirus in South Korea. After receiving treatments in an isolated negative pressure ward, on Thursday, she was released from the hospital. She is the second coronavirus patient in the nation to have been cured. All four of her gene amplification tests came back negative.

[Soundbite] KIM JIN-YONG(INCHEON MEDICAL CENTER) : "The patient's quarantine has been lifted under safe conditions because no virus was found in her tests."

The doctors unanimously decided at the approval of the central clinical committee that the woman was no longer contagious. The woman's symptoms were detected during body temperature checks at Incheon International Airport where she arrived on January 19th on her way to Japan. She was transported to Incheon Medical Center where she was confirmed to have the novel coronavirus and received treatment using antibiotics and oxygen therapy. The woman's doctors say her condition improved after ten days of hospitalization and that she had been carrying out a regular routine since last weekend. The woman wrote a letter to thank Korean doctors for their outstanding medical technology and attitude that saved her life. The letter reads, you all are my heroes and I will dedicate the rest of my life in helping others. The virus-free patient will stay at a hotel in Seoul before going back to her home country.