Chinese patient Li Ding, 66, who was one of the first confirmed cases of infection with the new coronavirus (nCoV) in Vietnam and underwent treatment at Cho Ray Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City, has recently tested negative for the virus, Hanoimoi reported.

According to Director of the Ministry of Health's Medical Services Administration Luong Ngoc Khue, Li Ding has regained consciousness and can breathe by himself.

The isolation area where two Chinese coronavirus-infected patients were treated at Cho Ray Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: Zing

Khue said that the result came from the great efforts of the medical team because Li Ding caught nCoV while he had just recovered from a lung cancer surgery in 2018. The patient has type 2 diabetes and suffers cardiovascular disease.

"We keep monitoring the patient and ask the Central Steering Committee for nCoV Prevention for permission to discharge him from hospital soon," Khue said.

The man was one of Vietnam's first confirmed cases of nCoV infection after it was first detected in Wuhan in China last December.

Ding arrived in Hanoi from Wuhan with his wife on January 13 before flying to Nha Trang four days later and developing a fever.

Earlier, his son, Zichao, developed a fever on January 20, three days after his father. Both were admitted to Cho Ray Hospital on January 22. Ding’s wife tested negative for the virus.

Vietnam has reported 15 cases of infection, of them six have recovered and been discharged from hospital.

As of February 11, the number of nCoV infections reached 43,104 globally while the death toll has risen to 1,018, including two outside China.