Mild, Asymptomatic COVID Patients May Not Be Infectious For More Than 10 Days: Study

More than 10 months since the novel coronavirus surfaced in China, doctors and researchers are still trying to ascertain the nature and behavioural pattern of the deadly virus which has killed over 1.1 million people, and counting. According to a recent study, people with mild or no symptoms of coronavirus may be infectious for not more than 10 days.

On the other hand, people who have been severely affected by COVID-19 may be infectious for 20 days, says the article published in the journal Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology.

Researchers conducted the review to get more information on transmission and to help inform infection control practices, said co-author Monica Sikka, MD, assistant professor of medicine (infectious diseases) at Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU) School of Medicine.

“Even though people can shed virus for a prolonged period of time, the studies we reviewed indicated that live virus, which may predict infectiousness, was only detected up to nine days in people who had mild symptoms,” Sikka said.

The researchers combed through the results of 77 identified studies worldwide. All of them reported assessments of viral shedding using standard methods to identify the virus by replicating it through a process called a polymerase chain reaction, or PCR.

“Although PCR positivity can be prolonged, culture data suggest that virus viability is typically shorter in duration,” the authors added.