His oxygen saturation – the amount of oxygen in the blood to ensure smooth breathing - was only 80 percent (the healthy range is 95 percent to 100 percent) when he was admitted to the ICU and could not be raised to a standard figure with the help of intubation and medical ventilator.

The computed tomography scan showed that both of the boy's lungs have been infected with suspected novel coronavirus and he also suffered renal malfunctions.

Zhang Furong, chief physician at Wuhan Children's Hospital's Intensive Care Department, said the boy's nucleic acid test – a method to detect novel coronavirus - showed a positive result. The boy, suffering from shock, acute respiratory distress syndrome and acute renal failure, as well as the outcomes of medical imaging, also helped confirm that he became the first child on the Chinese mainland diagnosed with critical novel coronavirus pneumonia.