A recent study has found that each person infected with the novel coronavirus in China may have transmitted it to an average five-point-seven people in the early stages of the outbreak.

According to South China Morning Post(SCMP) on Wednesday, such findings by a team of researchers at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in the United States were recently published in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases.

Researchers in China and Hong Kong previously projected each COVID-19 patient in Wuhan, Hubei Province, the epicenter of the virus, to have infected an average two-point-two people.

Based on a study of some 140 patients outside Hubei Province, the Los Alamos team found that it only took up to three-point-three days for the number of patients to double, compared to the previously estimated maximum of seven days.

Meanwhile, another study of three infected families who dined at the same restaurant in January by researchers in Guangzhou has found that the virus may have been transmitted through ventilation from air conditioning inside the restaurant.