Study warns that people who had COVID-19 could still be infectious after two months

By Joe Morgan via SWNS

People who contract COVID-19 could still be infectious after TWO MONTHS, warns new research.

A new test found that 13 percent are still infectious and show clinically-relevant levels of the virus after 10 days of quarantine.

For some people, there could be a risk of infection for up to 68 days.

There is nothing "clinically remarkable" about the people who remain with high levels of the virus, according to the study, which means it could happen to anyone.

University of Exeter researchers applied a new test on 176 people who had tested positive on standard PCRs to determine whether the virus was still active.

The study suggests the new test should be applied in settings where people are vulnerable to stop the spread of COVID-19.

Professor Lorna Harries, of the University of Exeter Medical School, said: “While this is a relatively small study, our results suggest that potentially active virus may sometimes persist beyond a 10 day period, and could pose a potential risk of onward transmission.

"Furthermore, there was nothing clinically remarkable about these people, which means we wouldn’t be able to predict who they are," Harries said.

Dr. Merlin Davies, of the same university, said: “In some settings, such as people returning to care homes after illness, people continuing to be infectious after ten days could pose a serious public health risk.

"We may need to ensure people in those setting have a negative active virus test to ensure people are no longer infectious. We now want to conduct larger trials to investigate this further.”

Animal Free Research UK CEO, Carla Owen, said: “The University of Exeter team’s discovery is exciting and potentially very important.

"Once more, it shows how focusing exclusively on human biology during medical research can produce results that are more reliable and more likely to benefit humans and animals.

“Pioneering animal free work is providing the best chance of not only defeating COVID-19 but also finding better treatments for all human diseases.

“The results also send a loud and clear message to the Government to better fund modern medical research and make the UK a world leader in cutting edge, kinder science.”

The study was published in the Journal of Infectious Diseases.