Incubation could reach 24 days in rare cases

BEIJING: The incubation period for the novel coronavirus could reach 24 days in rare cases, recent research has found.

The median incubation period is three days, lower than the estimated 5.2 days, according to research by Zhong Nanshan, a prominent scientist who is leading a government-appointed panel of experts helping to control the outbreak.

The findings could be used to guide the quarantine practice of targeting the close contacts of coronavirus patients, according to the study published on Sunday on medRxiv, a free online archive and distribution server for complete but unpublished medical papers.

Guan Weijie, a member of the research team, told Red Star News on Monday that only in rare cases had the virus incubated for 24 days, and that there was no need to prolong the isolation period for suspected patients.

The study was based on a sample of 1,099 coronavirus patients from hospitals nationwide, with a median age of 47. — China Daily/ANN