The longest viability period of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) patient would be 10 days, according to a new study by infectious diseases experts in Singapore.
The Director-General of Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, disclosed this at the Presidential Task Force (PTF) media briefing on Wednesday in Abuja.
The News Agency of Nigeria(NAN) reports that the Singapore study shows that COVID-19 patients are no longer infectious after 11 days of getting sick even though some may still test positive.
“A positive test “does not equate to infectiousness or viable virus,” a joint research paper by Singapore’s National Centre for Infectious Diseases and the Academy of Medicine Singapore said.
The virus “could not be isolated or cultured after day 11 of illness.”
The paper was based on a study of 73 patents in the city-state.
The DG said in line with this latest findings, the health agency would release a new case management guidelines for COVID-19 to review criteria for admission and discharge of patients.
He noted that the move would assist in managing challenges faced in isolation centres across the country, particularly with the shortage of bed space.
“We are now relooking our practice in terms of discharge criteria, and even who to keep in hospital, and who can stay at home and for how long.
Right now, the entire case management team which includes our colleagues at the Federal Ministry of Health, NCDC and few clinicians are reviewing our case management guidelines to redefine our approach around admission in terms of who is admitted and duration of admission and when to discharge,” he stated.
