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Coronavirus Spread in China Mostly Among Families, WHO Says

Updated on
  • As much as 85% of spread occurred in households: report
  • China health workers tracing tens of thousands of contacts
People chat at a subway station in Shanghai.
People chat at a subway station in Shanghai. Photographer: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg

Transmission of the coronavirus in China has largely occurred within families, according to a new report that suggests the disease is spreading less readily than some experts had feared.

Of about 344 clusters of infection in Guangdong and Sichuan provinces, up to 85% occurred in households, according to the report from a team of experts convened by the World Health Organization. Further studies of family spread are underway, it said.