A new paper by the Chinese Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CCDC) finds that the majority of coronavirus cases are mild, with older adults and people who have other conditions being most at risk. Share on Pinterest Wearing face masks, handwashing, and other protective measures may have helped the coronavirus outbreak slow, suggests new research. CCDC’s Novel Coronavirus Pneumonia Emergency Response Epidemiology Team has conducted a study wherein they analyze all the confirmed coronavirus cases, as of February 11, 2020. Experts have recently named the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. The disease that infection with the virus causes is called COVID-19. In the new study, the CCDC team extracted all the COVID-19 cases that China’s Infectious Disease Information System had recorded. In their analysis, the scientists included the following: a “summary of patient characteristics”

an analysis of viral spread by age and sex

a calculation of deaths and the “case fatality rate”

an analysis of viral spread over time and geographical space

an epidemiological curve, or visual display of the outbreak

a subgroup analysis of cases outside of China’s Hubei Province and “all cases among health workers nationwide” The findings appear in the journal CCDC Weekly.



80.9% of the cases are ‘mild’

The researchers analyzed a total of 72,314 patient records, which included: “44,672 (61.8%) confirmed cases, 16,186 (22.4%) suspected cases, 10,567 (14.6%) clinically diagnosed cases,” and “889 asymptomatic cases (1.2%).”

Of the total number of individuals with confirmed cases, 80.9% were said to be “mild.” Most of the adults affected were between 30 and 79 years old.

Of the total number of confirmed cases, there were 1,023 fatalities, the equivalent of a death rate of 2.3%. The virus proved more fatal for men — 2.8% — than women — 1.7%.

