1 in 10 people can still be contagious 10 days after contracting COVID-19

A new study suggests that 10 days of quarantine may not be enough for 1 in 10 people who are still infectious after this point.

A new type of test found that some patients were contagious for longer than the standard 10-day quarantine.

“Our results indicate that a potentially active virus can sometimes persist for longer than 10 days and may pose a potential transmission risk,” said the results of the British study, published in the International Journal of Infectious Diseases in December.

The researchers examined RNA from samples collected from 176 people who tested positive for polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Of these patients, 74 had symptoms, 36 had mild disease, 22 had moderate disease, and 33 had severe disease. More than 10% of positive cases still had clinically significant viral levels after 10 days

Lead author of the study, Merlin Davies, from the University of Exeter Medical School said: ‘In some settings, such as people returning to care homes after illness, continued transmission after ten days can pose a significant public health risk. We may need to ensure that people in these settings have a negative active virus test to ensure that people are no longer contagious.”

Larger experiments need to be conducted to explore this further.