WUHAN, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- Autopsy on the bodies of two patients who died from the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) were finished Sunday in Wuhan and the autopsy results have been sent for further examination, a local hospital said.

The autopsy work on the first body was finished at around 3 a.m. and the second at 6:45 p.m. Sunday, according to Wuhan Jinyintan Hospital, a major designated hospital to admit confirmed cases in Wuhan, as permitted by national laws and policies, and with the consent of the patients' family members.

The autopsy results have been sent for further examination for researchers to study the pathology of COVID-19 so as to understand the pathogenicity and lethality of the disease and better treat patients in critical or severe condition.

"We will study how the virus distributes in the patient's body and where it exactly attacks, so we can know what to do to intervene and defend the patient from the virus' further possible attack," said Prof. Liu Liang with Tongji Medical College of Huazhong University of Science and Technology.