Doctors from Beijing's China-Japan Friendship Hospital cheer each other’s spirits before entering quarantine units for severe patients at Tongji Hospital affiliated with Tongji Medical College of Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan, Hubei province on Feb 3. [Photo by Zhu Xingxin/chinadaily.com.cn]

A three-member family that was infected with the novel coronavirus, including an 11-month-old baby, were discharged from a hospital in Zhongshan, a Pearl River delta city in South China’s Guangdong province, on Tuesday.

The family includes a father surname Wen, 36, his wife surnamed Feng, 42, and their 11-month baby. They became the first three novel coronavirus patients to be discharged from hospital in the city, according to deputy director of Zhongshan No. 2 People’s Hospital Gao Wenjun on Tuesday.

Gao said the family visited Wuhan, the center of the novel coronavirus epidemic, from Jan 10 to 12 and they returned to Zhongshan on Jan 21.

The family developed a fever and cough on Jan 23, and they were quickly confirmed to have contracted the novel coronavirus after being hospitalized.

“The baby has become the youngest novel coronavirus patient in the city,” he said at a press conference.

Zhongshan, a major production base in Guangdong province and home to a large number of migrant workers, has reported a total of 31 confirmed novel coronavirus cases as of Monday at midnight, including one serious case, Gao said.

The patients are aged from 11 months to 79 years old.