Doctor says virus behaving ‘differently’ in northeast China patients

In an indication that the coronavirus is adapting as it spreads throughout the world, a prominent doctor tells Reuters that he’s noticed that COVID-19 is behaving differently in patients in northeast China than it had in patients in other parts of the country.

After largely gaining control of the virus, a new cluster of cases has sprouted in recent weeks in the northeast border provinces of Heilongjiang and Jilin.

The National Health Commission’s Qiu Haibo tells Reuters that the average incubation period among northeastern China virus patients was longer than that of Wuhan patients.

“This causes a problem, as they don’t have any symptoms. So when they gather with their families they don’t care about this issue and we see family cluster infections,” Reuters quotes Qiu as having told state broadcaster CCTV.