The first pediatric patient suffering from severe COVID-19 infection in China was discharged from a hospital in Shanghai on Saturday.

The three-year-old boy had symptoms, including high fever, cough and breathing difficulty after being diagnosed with COVID-19. He was transferred to Renji Hospital for treatment about one week ago.

"Our expert team at the time made a very clear clinical judgment that he might have some other underlying diseases. We identified the pathogen by bronchoscopy. It should be said that he has been cured quite quickly," said Zhou Wenhao, deputy president of the Children's Hospital of Fudan University, who had participated in the child's treatment.

"The expert team includes some top pediatricians. We have formulated targeted treatment strategies for pediatric COVID-19 patients with serious underlying diseases," said Ma Xudong, a member of the Shanghai working group under the State Council joint epidemic prevention and control mechanism.

"At present, there are six teams of national and municipal experts in Shanghai, guiding medical staff in more than 40 hospitals to conduct standardized diagnosis and treatment every day."

Shanghai is one of the cities in China hit hardest by COVID-19. The city reported 727 confirmed locally transmitted and 6,606 asymptomatic COVID-19 cases on Sunday, as well as 32 COVID-19 related deaths, according to the municipal health commission.