Bug can spread one to three days before symptoms appear, CDC study shows
WASHINGTON (REUTERS) - People infected with the novel coronavirus can transmit the infection one-to-three days before symptoms start to appear, according to a study published by the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The study, which underscored the importance of social distancing to fight the coronavirus outbreak, looked at 243 cases of Covid-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus, reported in Singapore between Jan 23 and March 16.
It identified seven "clusters" where pre-symptomatic transmission was likely, and in four such groups, where the date of exposure could be determined, pre-symptomatic transmission occurred one-to-three days before symptoms appeared in the source patient.
Of the cases in Singapore, 157 were locally acquired and 10 of these were likely transmitted before symptoms started to show.
The fast-spreading virus has claimed over 43,000 lives globally, with nearly 4,000 in the United States.
The findings suggest that it might not be enough for people showing symptoms to limit their contact to control the pandemic, the researchers wrote in the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, published online on Wednesday.
The findings increase the challenges of containment measures, the researchers wrote, but said the magnitude of the impact depends on the extent and duration of transmissibility while a patient is pre-symptomatic and that has so far not been clearly established.
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