A study of 660,000 Indians found just a few individuals can wreak viral havoc with COVID-19, and children are just as likely to spread the virus as adults.

Parts of India have been diligent in tracking and contact tracing people exposed to an infected person. By compiling that data, researchers revealed a portion of the population are super-spreaders, people who transmit a disproportionate amount of COVID-19 to others.

Study author Ramanan Laxminarayan, of the Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics and Policy in New Delhi, and his team said 8% of people with COVID-19 accounted for 60% of new infections.

Furthermore, 7 out of 10 cases were not linked to new infections, according to the Los Angeles Times. The study that was published Wednesday in the journal Science, also suggested children can spread the virus more widely than previously believed.

Infections were more likely to spread at indoor events, said the authors, backing up previous research.

Dr. Erin Bromage is a comparative immunologist and professor of biology at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. In an article for Occupational Health & Safety, Bromage said that while you can get the virus if an infected person coughs or sneezes nearby, you can also get sick if you are in an enclosed space for a long period of time where the virus has been released by someone just breathing into the air.

In wide open spaces, the virus might be diluted and quickly dispersed, but in enclosed spaces the concentration can increase the risk of infection, according to FiveThirtyEight.

"Super-spreading events are the rule rather than the exception," said Laxminarayan, according to the Times, adding, new safety guidelines can be established in gyms, churches, and choir practices based on his findings.

While children are generally less affected by the severity of COVID-19, they are equal opportunity spreaders, said the researchers. Their data showed children between the ages of 5 and 17 years transmitted the virus to 18% of contacts their own age, according to the Times.

Experts said the new findings should dramatically influence "national policies on how to proceed with children in schools and other social activities," now that we know that they can infect as effectively as adults.