The novel coronavirus is behaving differently in patients in northeast China who have contracted it recently compared with early cases, Reuters reports.

Qiu Haibo, an expert in critical care medicine who is part of a National Health Commission expert group in China, said the incubation period of the virus in patients in the northeast was longer than that of patients in Wuhan, the central city, where the virus emerged late last year.

“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,” Qiu told state broadcaster CCTV.

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