As of March 17 2020 , the number of global active cases ( 13.8 cases/mil ) per capita surpassed that of Wuhan , Hubei ( 9.8 cases/mil ) when the region was placed under lockdown on Jan 22 2020.The virus is primarily spread between people in a similar manner to influenza , via respiratory droplets from coughing and sneezing .
When the lockdown began in Hubei on January 22 , 2020 , the province had 9.8 cases per million inhabitants ; these numbers were surpassed by the number of active cases on March 17 , 2020 , when there were recorded 13.8 cases per million people worldwide .