Coronavirus More Contagious Than Previously Thought, Study Says

Each COVID-19 patient may spread the virus to 5.7 other people, according to a study published Tuesday in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases. The number is much higher than earlier estimates, suggesting the coronavirus could be more infectious than previously thought.

Researchers at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in the U.S. studied 140 confirmed cases reported by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention from Jan. 15 to 30, during the early stages of the outbreak. They estimated that the contagiousness, or R0, of the COVID-19 virus was in the range of 3.8 to 8.9, with a median of 5.7, suggesting that 5.7 people could catch the disease from each infected person.

In comparison, the R0 for the SARS coronavirus was calculated to be between 2 and 4. Previously, scientists had estimated the R0 for the COVID-19 virus to be between 2.2 and 2.7. (Image: CNS)