A doctor checks on a patient in the isolation ward of a hospital in Wuhan, Hubei province, on Thursday. Photo: EPA-EFE

  • Findings by scientists at Hong Kong University based on the assumption that each infected patient could have infected 2.68 others
  • Meanwhile, numbers of new infections and deaths set daily records

Topic |   Coronavirus outbreak

A doctor checks on a patient in the isolation ward of a hospital in Wuhan, Hubei province, on Thursday. Photo: EPA-EFE

Cissy Zhou

Cissy Zhou

Cissy joined the SCMP in 2019. Prior to that, she has been a producer at BBC News and investigative reporter at CaiXin Media. She is interested in China's politics and economy.

Josephine Ma

Josephine Ma

Josephine Ma is China editor-at-large. She has been covering China news for the South China Morning Post for more than 20 years, most recently as China editor. As a Beijing correspondent, she reported on everything from the Sars outbreak in 2003 to the Lhasa riot and Beijing Olympics in 2008.

Stephen Chen

Stephen Chen

Stephen Chen investigates major research projects in China, a new power house of scientific and technological innovation. He has worked for the Post since 2006. He is an alumnus of Shantou University, the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, and the Semester at Sea programme which he attended with a full scholarship from the Seawise Foundation.

Phoebe Zhang

Phoebe Zhang

Phoebe Zhang is a society reporter with the South China Morning Post. She likes to write human-interest stories and has written many about people living on the fringes of society. She believes there's no story or person that's too small.