Alliance for Pandemic Preparedness

March 19, 2020

The difference in the incubation period of 2019 novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) infection between travelers to Hubei and non-travelers: The need of a longer quarantine period

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  • Based on 175 confirmed cases reported in China between Jan 20 and Feb 12, Leung found a significant difference in the length of the incubation period of COVID-19 among travelers (10.3 – 13.3 days) and non-travelers (14.6 – 17.1 days) to Hubei, which suggests the need to extend quarantine periods to 3 weeks to account for the high variability of the incubation period in COVID-19 cases. 
  • Another study that looked at the incubation period of COVID-19 for over 2,000 non-Hubei cases found that incubation periods ranged from 0 to 33 days (median for adults was 7 days and children was 9 days). The authors suggest that extending the adult quarantine period to 18-21 days could be more effective in preventing the spread of COVID-19. 

Leung (Mar 18, 2020). The difference in the incubation period of 2019 novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) infection between travelers to Hubei and non-travelers: The need of a longer quarantine period. Infection Control and Hospital Epi. https://doi.org/10.1017/ice.2020.81 

Jiang et al. (Mar 15, 2020). Is a 14-day quarantine period optimal for effectively controlling coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)? Pre-print downloaded Mar 19 from https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.03.15.20036533