This is one of the major questions researchers are still working hard to answer. The first infections were potentially the result of animal-to-human transmission, but confirmation that human-to-human transmission was obtained in late January. As the virus has spread, local transmission has been seen across the world. Some of the most at-risk people are those that work in healthcare.
"The major concern is hospital outbreaks, which were seen with SARS and MERS coronaviruses," said Raina MacIntyre, a professor of global biosecurity at the University of New South Wales, Australia. "Meticulous triage and infection control is needed to prevent these outbreaks and protect health workers."
WHO says the virus can move from person to person via:
On Feb. 5, Chinese state media reported a newborn had been diagnosed with COVID-19 just 30 hours after birth, opening up the potential for mother-child transmission. Viruses can be transmitted through the placenta, but experts say it's too early to tell whether this is the case with the novel coronavirus, which is "unlikely" to be passed on in the womb.
A handful of viruses, including MERS, can survive for periods in the air after being sneezed or coughed from an infected individual. Although recent reports suggest the novel coronavirus may be transmitted in this way, the Chinese Center for Diseases Control and Prevention have reiterated there is no evidence for this. Writing in The Conversation on Feb. 14, virologists Ian Mackay and Katherine Arden explain "no infectious virus has been recovered from captured air samples."
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