A staff member prepares the testing reagent in Shanghai KingMed Diagnostics in Shanghai, east China, March 23, 2020. (Xinhua/Liu Ying)
BEIJING, March 24 (Xinhua) -- Chinese research groups have conducted autopsies on 29 COVID-19 patient bodies and found the novel coronavirus remains in their lungs after death, a Chinese expert said Tuesday.
Autopsies also showed severe damage to the patients' immune system, which could be "a very important factor" in their deaths, said Wang Guiqiang, an infectious disease expert with the Peking University First Hospital, at a press conference in Beijing.
Wang added that the infection not only causes severe pathological changes in the patients' lungs, but also results in secretions in small bronchial tubes, which makes it harder to breathe. ■