Doctors and other healthcare workers don’t often contract COVID-19 from patients known to be infected with the virus, and their presentation is usually milder, according to reports from China and the Netherlands.

In the first study, researchers from Wuhan evaluated the infection risk from occupational exposure among healthcare workers.

They also actively screened 335 healthcare staff, including 135 front line workers (from fever clinics or wards) and 200 staff from other departments.

Among the 2009 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 by 9 February, 5% were healthcare workers (56% were nurses, 24% were doctors and 20% were healthcare assistants).