WUHAN, Feb. 11 (Xinhua) -- The first batch of 28 patients who had recovered from novel coronavirus pneumonia were discharged from a gymnasium-converted makeshift hospital on Tuesday afternoon in Wuhan, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in central China's Hubei Province.

The patients with mild symptoms, aged between 25 and 69, were admitted to the Hongshan Gymnasium from Feb. 6 to 9.

"We very much appreciate the efforts of the doctors and local government. They took good care of us," said a patient who declined to be named.

Wuhan authorities have transformed public venues such as exhibition centers and gymnasiums into temporary hospitals since Feb. 3. The hospitals have a large capacity for treating patients with mild symptoms and play an important role in isolating the source of infection and cutting off the routes of infection during epidemic prevention, according to Wang Chen, vice president of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and president of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences.