A Chinese doctor whose skin darkened dramatically while undergoing hospital treatment for coronavirus is gradually returning to his normal colour.
Dr Yi Fan, 42, who caught the virus in January in Wuhan, where the outbreak began, woke up from life support in April to find his skin had become much darker.
His colleague Hu Weifeng, 42, suffered the same side effect.
Both doctors were infected with Covid-19 while treating patients at the Wuhan Central Hospital and saw the change in pigmentation over the course of their treatment.
The change was caused by an antibiotic that the doctors were given, a spokesperson for the China-Japan Friendship Hospital said.
But Dr Yi's skin is now starting to return to normal after he was discharged from hospital last week, new footage suggests.
Dr Yi spoke to Chinese state broadcaster CCTV from his hospital bed in April saying he had mostly recovered from the infection, but he was struggling to walk independently.
He told a reporter: "When I first gained consciousness, especially after I got to know about my condition, I felt scared. I had nightmares often."
Dr Hu, whose condition was previously described as more serious, remains in hospital, according to the spokesperson.
The full long-term effects of coronavirus remain unknown, with investigations ongoing.
Many people who have suffered from the disease have reported longer-term problems that they believe are related to Covid-19.
Carmine Pariante, professor of biological psychiatry at King’s College London, told the Mail on Sunday: “We don’t have the data yet, but we are concerned that some people will be affected long-term.
"There is, particularly for patients in intensive care, a perfect storm of potential damage to the body and the brain.
“But we also need to see whether even those with milder forms who weren’t treated in hospital have some consequences such as long term physical or mental fatigue. We don’t know – but it might well be possible.
