COVID infection lasts for more than 5 days: Study

The study, published in ‘Lancet Respiratory Medicine’, said the “latest results combine what is already known about the dynamics of omicron infections, and the duration of infectivity for all existing COVID variants” is broad. have in common.”

“Findings suggest that the majority of people who develop symptoms are not contagious before they develop symptoms, but two-thirds of cases are still contagious up to five days after their symptoms begin.”

This research was done by scientists from Imperial College London.

Research also shows that while lateral flow tests (LFTs) do not detect the onset of infectivity well, they more accurately identify when someone is no longer infectious and can safely leave isolation.

Professor Lalwani, director of the NIHR Respiratory Infection Health Protection Research Unit at Imperial College, said, “We followed people in their homes closely from the time they were first exposed to the virus, capturing the moment they had stopped developing the infection.” London.

“Before this study we were missing about half the picture of infectivity, because it is difficult to know when people first came into contact with SARS-CoV-2. [COVID-19] And that’s when they first become contagious. By using specialized daily tests to measure the infectious virus (not just PCR) and daily symptom records, we were able to define the window in which people are infectious. It is fundamental to control any epidemic and has not been defined earlier for any respiratory infection in the community,” he said.

“Our evidence can be used to inform infection control policies and self-isolation guidance to help reduce the transmission of SARS-CoV-2,” he said.

(with inputs from agencies)

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