Photo: Xinhua

 
While worries continue to grow as the number of confirmed novel coronavirus cases surpassed 5,900 nationwide, a gleam of hope emerged with the recovery of over 100 patients, besides several labs made key breakthroughs in their race to develop vaccines. 

A female patient living in Shanghai surnamed Jin was diagnosed with novel coronavirus on January 22. After a few days of treatment at a local hospital, her condition showed signs of improvement with the body temperature returning to normal. She was the fourth case of recovery in Shanghai, according to media reports. 

Guo Qin, a 38-year-old healthcare worker, has been in the emergency ward of a hospital in Wuhan, treating patients in critical conditions since the epidemic broke out. On January 13, she had fever accompanied by joint pain, media reports said. Later, she was diagnosed with the novel coronavirus. However, after receiving due treatment, she successfully recovered and resumed duty in the emergency ward again. She later told her patients the disease was not so terrible and is curable, to cheer them up. 

In another piece of good news, an 87-year-old woman was discharged from the hospital on Tuesday, after eight days of treatment, heralding a positive sign as most patients infected with the new coronavirus are elderly people. 

As of early morning Wednesday, a total of 103 cases of recovery have been reported nationwide, despite the overall confirmed number of novel coronavirus surpassing that of the SARS epidemic in 2003. 

Scientists across the world have been racing to develop a vaccine against the deadly virus. Li Lanjuan, an academician at the Chinese Academy of Engineering, was quoted as saying in media reports on Tuesday that China is likely to have a vaccine against the novel coronavirus for public use within three months. This period includes a month and a half of development and a month and a half of testing. 

A task force of Australian scientists also said on Wednesday they have successfully developed a lab-grown version of coronavirus, the first recreation outside China, according to media reports. It is also a major breakthrough that could help contain the spreading virus. 

Meanwhile, Hong Kong researchers said that they have developed a vaccine but need time to test it, the South Morning China Post reported, citing medical experts. The University of Hong Kong Professor Yuen Kwok-yung said that that his team is working on a vaccine.