chinadaily.com.cn Cured patients of novel coronavirus walk out of a hospital in Anqing city, East China's Anhui province, Feb 20, 2020. [Photo/Xinhua]

The novel coronavirus is not a disease that will be recovered from without treatment, said Wang Guiqiang, an infectious disease doctor at Peking University First Hospital.

Some elderly who have underlying diseases may develop complications, and get severely ill, or die.

Even for patients with mild symptoms, there is a risk of their conditions worsening suddenly, so treatment is necessary.

Once the novel coronavirus has been detected, one should go immediately to the hospital for treatment.