MOSCOW, March 6. /TASS/. Chinese researchers have found that children and adults are equally as likely to contract the novel coronavirus, the South China Morning Post daily informed, citing experts from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention from the Chinese city of Shenzhen.
"There was no significant association between the probability of infection and age of the index case," the researchers stated. They studied data from 391 confirmed cases in Shenzhen in the period from January 14 to February 12 as well as 1,286 people who had been in close contact with patients. The experts found the probability of disease transmission for children under 10 is about 7.4%, while the population average is about 7.9%.
Earlier, China’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention published the results of a study, according to which children and teenagers under 19 are less likely to become infected with the virus.
In late December 2019, Chinese authorities notified the World Health Organization (WHO) about an outbreak of a previously unknown pneumonia in the city of Wuhan, central China. According to Chinese authorities, about 80,500 people have been infected with the virus in the country. The death toll has exceeded 3,000, while about 53,500 patients have recovered. WHO declared the outbreak of the novel coronavirus a global health emergency and named the virus COVID-19. Cases of coronavirus have been reported in over 80 countries, including Russia. The largest outbreaks of COVID-19 outside of China have been detected in South Korea, Iran and Italy. According to WHO, the number of people infected with COVID-19 outside of China is nearing 15,000, with 267 people dead.