Objective  To analyze multigeneration infection in a family clustering of novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) for providing evidences to the prevention of the epidemic.

  Methods  Epidemiological and laboratory data on 10 confirmed and one asymptomatic COVID-19 cases were collected from a family clustering of the disease; the source of transmission chain of the cluster infection were analyzed.

  Results  The family COVID-19 clustering occurred between January 23 and February 3, 2020 among 5 members of a family and 6 relatives of the family. The first case of the clustering was a 62-year old man, who had no history of travelling in or contacting with someone from Wuhan city but had a history of potential exposure to a confirmed COVID-19 case in a public fitness room 7-day before his disease incident. The second generation of the clustering included 6 confirmed cases (3 males aged 31, 53, 57 years and 3 females aged 2, 62, 83 years) and one asymptomatic laboratory confirmed case (a 28-year old female) and all the cases had the exposure to the first case through daily living or having a dinner together. The third generation of the clustering were one female (age 56 years) and two males (aged 52 and 57 years) and all the three cases had the history of having dinner parties together with the asymptomatic case. The average generation interval between the first case and the second generation is 4.5 days, and the average incubation period for the third generation is 7.3 days. The total recurrence rate of this family clustering epidemic is 34.5%, with a rate of 53.8% for the second-generation case and a rate of 18.8% for the third-generation case.

  Conclusion  The family clustering of novel coronavirus disease demonstrates that the novel coronavirus is highly infectious and could be rapidly transmitted via daily living contact and having a dinner together among family members and relatives.