A new British study has revealed that some individuals infected with the coronavirus remain contagious to others even after 10 days from their initial infection. The research conducted by researchers at the University of Exeter indicated that one in ten infected individuals may remain contagious after this period. The study analyzed samples from 176 people confirmed to have COVID-19 through PCR testing.
The findings showed that 13% of the patients still had high levels of the virus after 10 days. In contrast, some individuals maintained these high levels for up to 68 days. The researchers noted that the samples used in the study were collected in 2020 during the spread of the original strain of the virus, making it unclear if the results apply to its variants regarding the duration of infectiousness and incubation.
The announcement of these study results coincides with several countries, including the UK, reducing the isolation period for infected individuals to five days, aiming to alleviate shortages in staff and teachers. Meanwhile, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the United States updated its mask-wearing guidelines for virus prevention, stating that cloth face masks do not provide the same level of protection against the Omicron variant as medical masks do.
