Yi Fan Photo: screenshot from a video by Hubei News

Yi Fan, a doctor at Wuhan Central Hospital in Central China's Hubei Province, who recovered from a severe COVID-19 infection in March, in which his skin darkened due to coronavirus-related liver damage, was found to have his skin color return to "normal" recently, a video clip circulating online shows.

In the video, Yi, on Monday, sent a bunch of flowers to express his gratitude to Wang Chen, a renowned respiratory specialist and vice president of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, for saving his life.

He made a special visit to Wang when he heard that the respiratory specialist was attending an event at a local hospital. He took off his mask to let Wang take a good look at how well he has recovered, according to media reports.

Yi was infected with COVID-19 on January 18 and received ECMO treatments due to the seriousness of his infection. Fortunately, he was successfully released from ECMO on March 15, and discharged from hospital upon recovery on May 6, media reported.

"It is a miracle for me to survive the COVID-19, and I will cherish every day of my life," Yi told media on Monday regarding his life after recovering from the deadly disease.

Yi and his colleague Hu Weifeng, who also suffered a serious COVID-19 infection, came under the spotlight in April after a video of them and their heavily darkened skin pigmentation went viral on Chinese social media.

Unfortunately, Hu died on June 2 after four months of treatment. Although his condition improved during the treatment, he suffered cerebral hemorrhages on April 22 and May 21.

Medical experts said that their altered skin pigmentation could have been due to abnormal liver functions, according to an April report by Chinese newspaper the Health Times.

Many Chinese netizens expressed their congratulations to Yi and paid tribute to the city's hardworking medical workers.

"He has completely changed from what he looked like when he fell ill. Our whole society has changed for the better," a netizen commented on Sina Weibo.

"I can't help but think of another doctor who didn't make it. I hope all of us can stay healthy," another said.