A 17-day-old baby has recovered from coronavirus symptoms without being given any specific antiviral medication.

The girl is the youngest person to have overcome the illness in China. She was born on 5 February at Hubei Provincial People's Hospital Wuhan, Central China - the epicentre of the Covid-19 outbreak.

At the time of her birth, the girl's mum had already been diagnosed with the novel coronavirus. The child was then diagnosed with the disease at Wuhan Children's Hospital four days later.

Credit: AsiaWire/Wuhan Children's Hospital

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Doctor Zeng Lingkong and his team in the hospital's neonatal ward provided round-the-clock care for the baby, who was eventually moved into isolation in order to protect other children from contracting the virus.

Fortunately, the young girl developed none of the more serious symptoms associated with the deadly, pneumonia-like disease.

Speaking to state media, Dr Zeng said they did not prescribe any antiviral drugs and the child remained stable.

Credit: AsiaWire

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The specialist told the publication: "The child was transferred to us on 5 February. Her mum had a chest infection, and she tested positive too after arriving.

"Her heart was a bit weak, but we treated that. Because the novel coronavirus is new, it is not entirely clear how newborns are affected. We must also be very careful when administering antiviral drugs to newborns.

"As her condition did not appear to significantly worsen, we did not prescribe any particular antiviral medicines.

"Her treatment was very successful. She had no breathing difficulties, fevers or coughing.

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"She remained stable throughout the 16 days of treatment, and has now twice tested negative for the Covid-19.

"She meets the standards for discharge."

Credit: AsiaWire

The girl was reunited with her family members last week (21 February), although her mother remains in quarantine.

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Since the outbreak began earlier this year, around 80,000 cases of Covid-19 have been reported worldwide, with more than 2,600 people having died as a result.

In a bid to find a solution to the Wuhan 'epidemic', scientists in the US infected eighteen monkeys with a strain of coronavirus.

The rhesus macaques were exposed to Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) - a strain which can cause a cough, shortness of breath, a fever and, in some cases, organ failure, according to the World Health Organisation.

Scientists at the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) found that an experimental vaccine they have developed, called remdesivir, proved effective in treating the infected animals.

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The macaques were all put under observation for six days and it was found that those who were treated with remdesivir prior to infection showed no symptoms.