Chinese Researchers: "The Longest Incubation Period of Novel Coronavirus Is 24 Days"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] Chinese scholars have presented research findings indicating that the longest incubation period of the novel coronavirus infection can extend up to 24 days.

According to China Science Network on the 10th, a research team led by Zhong Nanshan, a top authority on respiratory diseases and an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, stated in their latest paper that "the median incubation period of the novel coronavirus is 3.0 days, with a range of 0 to 24 days." This contrasts with the previous announcement by Chinese health authorities that the incubation period does not exceed 14 days.

The research team confirmed these results by studying the clinical characteristics of 1,099 confirmed patients from 552 hospitals across 31 provinces and cities in China.

The significant extension of the incubation period from the previously known 14 days to 24 days implies a higher risk of transmission from asymptomatic patients. Many users on the Chinese social networking service (SNS) 'Weibo' have expressed concern over the paper's claim of a 24-day maximum incubation period. Some have also responded with skepticism.

The paper also concluded that the possibility of 'super-spreaders' cannot be ruled out. In addition to transmission through small droplets released by coughing or sneezing and contact transmission, the novel coronavirus has been detected in some patients' feces, gastrointestinal tract, saliva, and esophageal bleeding sites, emphasizing the need to be cautious about the potential for transmission via gastrointestinal secretions.

The most common symptoms among patients were fever (87.9%) and cough (67.7%). However, only 43.8% of patients exhibited fever symptoms at the time of medical examination, which is less than half. Rarely, symptoms such as diarrhea (3.7%) and vomiting (5.0%) were also observed.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.