Serology characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 infection since the exposure and post symptoms onset

Bin Lou; Tigndong Li; Shufa Zheng; Yingying Su; Zhiyong Li; Wei Liu; Fei Yu; Shengxiang Ge; Qianda Zou; Quan Yuan; Sha Lin; Congming Hong; Xiangyang Yao; Xuejie Zhang; Dinghui Wu; Guoliang Zhou; Wangheng Hou; Tingting Li; Yali Zhang; Shiyin Zhang; Jian Fan; Jun Zhang; Ningshao Xia; Yu Chen

In the early December 2019, a novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) was first reported to cause lethality pneumonia in human and person-to-person transmission had been demonstrated soon in Wuhan, the capital city of Hubei province, China. [1] The virus rapidly spread through China and then many other countries globally. Up to March 17, 2020 , the virus had resulted in over 190,000 laboratory-confirmed cases of coronavirus disease 2019 and more than 7800 deaths in 163 countries. [2] The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared Covid-19 a public health emergency of international concern and given a "very high" risk assessment on global level. [3] A recent report from China showed that the median incubation period of Covid-19 infection was 4 days (interquartile range, 2 to 7). [4] Fever, cough and fatigue are the most common symptoms. [1] Severe cases could rapidly progress to acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and septic shock. The abnormalities on chest computed tomography, particularly the ground-glass opacity and bilateral patchy shadowing, were found in over 80% of patients. [5] Over 80% of patients had lymphopenia, and about 60% of patients had elevated C-reactive protein. Currently, the diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 infection almost solely depends on the All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission. author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity.