Covid incubation gets shorter with each new variant, study shows | World News,The Indian Express
The researchers noted variable incubation periods across different age groups and severity of disease.
The longer a virus can replicate inside a person before causing symptoms, the harder it can be to stop because of the greater potential for the infected to unknowingly spread it far and wide.
Among Covid-19’s pernicious features, its incubation period is longer than many other respiratory viral infections, including influenza, respiratory syncytial virus and rhinovirus. The good news is the interval between exposure and the development of symptoms appears to be narrowing.
Scientists from Peking University and Tsinghua University in Beijing analyzed data from more than 140 studies to estimate the incubation period of Covid caused by different strains of SARS-CoV-2. It fell from an average of five days with an alpha infection to 3.42 days with omicron, according to a study published Monday in the journal JAMA Network Open.
The researchers also noted variable incubation periods across different age groups and severity of disease.
“The findings of this study suggest that SARS-CoV-2 has evolved and mutated continuously throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, producing variants with different enhanced transmission and virulence,” Wannian Liang and colleagues said. “Identifying the incubation period of different variants is a key factor in determining the isolation period.”
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