The areas of the world that have yet to see large swaths of their populations infected with COVID-19 are looking to places like China and South Korea, which have vastly more experience with the virus, to learn all they can about the disease.
While more nearly 5,000 people are known to have died from the virus, more than 70,000 have recovered. However, as researchers in Hong Kong have found, some of the effects of the novel coronavirus may be permanent.
The city has only seen 131 confirmed cases, with three fatalities so far. After the first wave of patients was released, doctors with the Hong Kong Health Authority followed up with 12 of them to see how they were doing.
The results were surprising.
COVID-19, a respiratory affliction, had left them with lung function reduced by 20-30%.
"They gasp if they walk a bit more quickly," Dr Owen Tsang Tak-yin, medical director of the authority’s Infectious Disease Centre, said according to The South China Morning Post. "Some patients might have around a drop of 20 to 30 per cent in lung function [after recovery]."
They said that nine patients' scans found "frosted glass" patterns, which indicate lung damage.
It's unknown how exactly that damage will affect the patients long-term, but it could include conditions like pulmonary fibrosis, in which lung tissue hardens and cannot function properly.
And they're expected to undergo physical therapy and exercises such as swimming to try to help them strengthen their lungs.
