AUTHOR=Kumar Nitya , AbdulRahman AbdulKarim , AlAli Salman , Otoom Sameer , Atkin Stephen L. , AlQahtani Manaf 

TITLE=Time Till Viral Clearance of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Is Similar for Asymptomatic and Non-critically Symptomatic Individuals

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Medicine

VOLUME=Volume 8 - 2021

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/medicine/articles/10.3389/fmed.2021.616927

DOI=10.3389/fmed.2021.616927

ISSN=2296-858X

ABSTRACT=Despite the modelled estimations of the burden of asymptomatic spread, the duration of viral positivity and infectiousness of SARS-CoV-2 remains understudied. The objective of the present study was to estimate and compare the time till viral clearance of SARS-CoV-2 in asymptomatic and non-critically symptomatic individuals. We studied 184 SARS-CoV-2 positive participants, of whom 145 were asymptomatic. Our analysis uncovered that time till viral negativity is similar for subclinical (median time till viral clearance: 11 days, IQR: 8,14) and overt infections (median: 11 days, IQR: 9,14) after controlling for age and sex.  This has implications understanding the period of infectivity for SARS-CoV-2 in order to plan adequate public health measures to control the community.