THE incubation period for the killer coronavirus could be up to 24 days in rare cases, scientists have warned.
Officials had previously thought the time frame between infection and the onset of symptoms ranged between one and 14 days.
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But new research by Chinese government medical advisers found that it’s likely to be around 10 days longer.
The study, led by Zhong Nanshan, found that the median incubation period is three days – less than original estimate of 5.2 days.
His team found that only in very rare cases had the new coronavirus incubated for 24 days.
One of the experts involved, Guan Weijie, told Red Star News that it is unnecessary to prolong the isolation period for suspected patients.
Sample
The research was based on a sample of 1,099 patients who had been infected with the new coronavirus, 2019-nCoV, from 552 hospitals across China.
Medical workers accounted for two per cent of the sample, while almost 44 per cent were residents of Wuhan – the outbreak’s epicentre.
More than a quarter of the sample had not been to Wuhan, or met anyone from the provincial capital.
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The experts said their findings could be used to help guide the quarantine practice of targeting the close contacts of those infected.
Their research was published on medRxiv, the free online archive and distribution server for complete but unpublished medical papers on Sunday.
Experts in the UK said that a lot of the studies on this are coming out as pre-prints and haven’t been peer-reviewed.
However this type of research is needed for the people working on the virus on the ground but can be hard to verify, according to British scientists.
‘Worrying’
Prof Paul Hunter, professor in medicine at the University of East Anglia (UEA), said: “The suggestion that the incubation period may extend up to 24 days is definitely worrying, especially for people currently in quarantine who may, therefore, expect to spend longer is isolation.
“However, the median incubation period remains very short at three days.
“This means that a half of people who will get ill will have developed their illness within three days of the initial contact and the proportion of people with the really long incubation periods will be very small.
“One of the issues with particularly long incubation periods is that it is often very difficult to exclude the possibility that the person had not had a second unrelated contact.
“Nevertheless, this new information illustrates is concerning and illustrates the need to be continuingly re-evaluating our risk assessments and advice.”
Rising toll
It comes as the death toll from the epidemic rose to 910 – all but two have occurred in mainland China.
On Sunday, 97 more fatalities were recorded – the largest number in a single day since the outbreak was detected in December.
Meanwhile, the number of cases in the UK doubled to eight after four more people tested positive for the deadly illness.
The new cases are all known contacts of a businessman who was diagnosed in Brighton last week.
The middle-aged “super-spreader” contracted the virus at a conference in Singapore before travelling to a ski chalet in France.
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Five other Britons staying at the were subsequently taken ill with the deadly virus, which has claimed more than 900 lives and infected 40,000 people globally.
One of the victims is Bob Saynor, who owns the ski chalet in Contamines-Montjoie, and his nine-year-old son.
Last night French health minister Agnes Buzyn revealed Mr Saynor’s wife Catriona, 50, was under observation in a UK hospital.
It’s not been confirmed whether she is among the four people diagnosed with the virus today.
The Department of Health said all of the new cases were contracted in France and have been taken to isolation units in London.
What is coronavirus?
Coronavirus is an airborne virus, spread in a similar way to colds and the flu.
The virus attacks the respiratory system, causing lung lesions.
Symptoms include a runny nose, headache, cough and fever, shortness of breath, chills and body aches.
It is incredibly contagious and is spread through contact with anything the virus is on as well as infected breath, coughs or sneezes.
Symptoms include a runny nose, headache, cough and fever, shortness of breath, chills and body aches.
In most cases, you won’t know whether you have a coronavirus or a different cold-causing virus, such as rhinovirus.
But if a coronavirus infection spreads to the lower respiratory tract (your windpipe and your lungs), it can cause pneumonia, especially in older people, people with heart disease or people with weakened immune systems.
There is no vaccine for coronavirus.
In 2003 an outbreak of a similar virus, SARS, infected more than 8,000 people in 37 countries before it was brought under control, killing 800 of those worldwide.
One of the new confirmed cases is reportedly a doctor from Brighton who was part of the group at the ski resort, according to the Guardian.
Public Health England are desperately trying to trace hundreds of passengers who were on board a UK bound flight with the businessman.
The Government today declared coronavirus a “serious and imminent threat to public health” as it introduced new powers to deal with the spread of the virus.
Under new powers announced today, the health ministry said people with the illness can now be forcibly quarantined and will not be free to leave, and can be forcibly sent into isolation if they pose a threat to public health.
The measures are understood to have been introduced in response to one of the Britons who returned from Wuhan attempting to leave isolation.
A Government source said “there was someone who was threatening to abscond from Arrowe Park” despite all the Britons who returned on the evacuation flight signing a contract agreeing to a 14-day quarantine period – which ends this Thursday.
The Dept of Health later tweeted to say that the risk to the public had not changed and remains at “moderate”.
Around 150 Brits were flown back from Wuhan yesterday and will now be quarantined at a facility in Milton Keynes.
