Key info
Date:
17 January 2020
Authors:
Natsuko Imai, Ilaria Dorigatti, Anne Cori, Steven Riley, Neil M. Ferguson
Correspondence:
Professor Neil Ferguson
neil.ferguson@imperial.ac.uk
WHO Collaborating Centre for Infectious Disease Modelling; MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis; Abdul Latif Jameel Institute for Disease and Emergency Analytics; Imperial College London, UK
Summary
Many aspects of the COVID-19 (previously termed 2019-nCoV) outbreak are highly uncertain. However, the detection of three cases outside China (two in Thailand, one in Japan) is worrying. We calculate, based on flight and population data, that there is only a 1 in 574 chance that a person infected in Wuhan would travel overseas before they sought medical care. This implies there might have been over 1700 (3 x 574) cases in Wuhan so far. There are many unknowns, meaning the uncertainty range around this estimate goes from 190 cases to over 4000. But the magnitude of these numbers suggests that substantial human to human transmission cannot be ruled out. Heightened surveillance, prompt information sharing and enhanced preparedness are recommended.
Translations
- 中文 - Mandarin
- 日本語 - Japanese
- Español - Spanish
- Français - French
- Italiano - Italian
- Arabic - العربية
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