The deadly coronavirus may spread to more than 500,000 people in the Chinese city of Wuhan before the epidemic hits its peak, according to a new study.

London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine developed a model that shows one in 20 people in Wuhan, the outbreak’s center, will come down with the illness before the spread of the virus starts to slow down, Bloomberg News reported.

“There’s a lot of uncertainty, so I’m cautious about picking out a single value for the peak, but it’s possible based on current data we might see a peak prevalence over 5%,” Adam Kucharski, a professor of infectious disease epidemiology, told the outlet.

Based on current trends, the model predicts that the virus will reach its peak in mid-to-late February, Bloomberg reported.

With a population of 11 million, researchers estimate that 500,000 Wuhan residents will catch the virus by that time, the report said.

The number is significantly higher than the current 16,902 cases in Wuhan as of Sunday night, the outlet reported.

But the scientists say the discrepancy is because many mild cases of the virus in the region have gone unreported.

Throughout China’s mainland, the virus has killed at least 910 people and infected more than 40,000 others.