Duration of SARS-CoV-2 RNA detection in COVID-19 patients in home isolation, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, 2020 - an interval-censored survival analysis

Euro Surveill. 2020 Jul;25(30):2001292. doi: 10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2020.25.30.2001292.

Abstract

We analysed consecutive RT-qPCR results of 537 symptomatic coronavirus disease (COVID-19) patients in home quarantine. Respectively 2, 3, and 4 weeks after symptom onset, 50%, 25% and 10% of patients had detectable RNA from severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2). In patients with mild COVID-19, RNA detection is likely to outlast currently known periods of infectiousness by far and fixed time periods seem more appropriate in determining the length of home isolation than laboratory-based approaches.

Keywords: COVID-19 diagnostic testing; patient isolation; survival analysis.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Aged, 80 and over
  • Betacoronavirus / genetics*
  • Betacoronavirus / isolation & purification
  • COVID-19
  • Coronavirus / genetics*
  • Coronavirus / isolation & purification
  • Coronavirus Infections / diagnosis*
  • Coronavirus Infections / epidemiology
  • Coronavirus Infections / virology
  • Coronavirus RNA-Dependent RNA Polymerase
  • Germany / epidemiology
  • Humans
  • Middle Aged
  • Pandemics*
  • Patient Isolation
  • Pneumonia, Viral* / diagnosis
  • Pneumonia, Viral* / epidemiology
  • Pneumonia, Viral* / virology
  • Quarantine
  • RNA-Dependent RNA Polymerase / genetics*
  • Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction / methods*
  • SARS-CoV-2
  • Survival Analysis
  • Time Factors
  • Viral Nonstructural Proteins / genetics*

Substances

  • Viral Nonstructural Proteins
  • Coronavirus RNA-Dependent RNA Polymerase
  • NSP12 protein, SARS-CoV-2
  • RNA-Dependent RNA Polymerase