The need for numerous safe isolation or quarantine facilities brings attention to how easily the SARS‐CoV‐2 virus can spread; one measure for this parameter is the basic reproduction number. The basic reproduction number or basic reproductive number (R0) of a disease indicates the number of people that an initially infected person will transmit the infection to assuming no one yet in the population is immune to the disease.113 Liu, Y., et al. (2020). The Reproductive Number of COVID‐19 Is Higher Compared to SARS Coronavirus. Journal of Travel Medicine. 27(2). Retrieved April 28, 2020, from https://academic.oup.com/jtm/article/27/2/taaa021/5735319
On March 6, 2020, the WHO reported a reproductive number of 2 to 2.5.114 World Health Organization. (2020, March 6). Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID‐19) Situation Report ‐ 46. World Health Organization. Retrieved April 28, 2020, from https://www.who.int/docs/default‐source/coronaviruse/situation‐reports/20200306‐sitrep‐46‐covid‐19.pdf?sfvrsn=96b04adf_4
Another estimate put COVID‐19’s R0 at around 3.28 based on figures from different regions in China and overseas.115 Liu, Y., et al., op. cit. note 113.
To make sense of R0, for instance the 3.28 figure, one person who has COVID‐19 will infect around three people with COVID‐19; total cases are now four. Each of these three newly infected will also infect three more, adding nine new cases to the previous total of four. Each of the nine new cases will infect three, and so on.