Scientists in Germany have recently revealed that the Corona COVID-19 virus can quickly replicate in a person's throat. This makes it more easily transmitted from one person to another when compared to SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome).
Citing the South China Morning Post, the study, published in Nature on April 1, was conducted by a team from Berlin, Munich, and Cambridge based on the clinical care of nine patients with the Corona COVID-19 virus.

According to a team led by Christian Drosten from Charité University Hospital in Berlin and Clemens Wendtner from the Schwabing Clinic in Munich, findings that the new Coronavirus can easily spread through droplets or droplets indicate that this method of transmission should be the focus of detention.

This assessment also emerged when the World Health Organization (WHO) last week mentioned that the use of face masks in the general public could help stop transmission from human to human.

Nine patients were studied from young to middle-aged at the hospital in Munich. Throat swabs taken in the first week of the patient's symptoms were all tested positive. However, less than 40 percent of swab samples for patients at the same stage as SARS were positive.

"Also, viral load (amount of virus) is very different (between SARS virus and COVID-19). In this study, peak concentrations were reached before day 5, and were more than 1,000 times higher than the peak SARS," the researchers said.

"The successful isolation of a live virus from a throat swab is another striking difference from SARS, where such isolation is rarely successful. Overall it shows active viral replication in upper respiratory tract tissue," they said.

Like SARS, the Corona COVID-19 virus has a surge protein that helps it blend with human cell receptors, called ACE2, which allows the virus to enter the tissue. Such receptors are more common in the lower respiratory tract, which scientists say explains lung infections often occur in SARS and COVID-19 patients.

The researchers added that they found strong evidence to show that the virus could replicate not only in the lungs but also the throat of the patient. The study said the new Corona virus has properties similar to the SARS virus in terms of replication in the lungs and digestive tract. But the new Corona virus is far more contagious because it enters through the upper respiratory tract in the early days they are infected.