The case series from outside Hubei report much milder symptoms than those reported from Hubei, especially from Wuhan, which may be due to early admittance of contact persons and of suspected cases with only mild symptoms. In addition, the large impact on the health system in the initially affected province resulted in insufficient healthcare resources [3]. This may have inhibited adequate treatment as the strikingly higher case fatality indicates [18]. However, all COVID-19 case series were still open with more than half of the cases hospitalised at reporting date. It is known that COVID-19 cases can have a prolonged course with many fatalities occurring 3 weeks after symptom onset [19]. Case fatality rates from these COVID-19 case series can therefore only be seen as preliminary.