Duration of viral shedding in asymptomatic or mild cases of novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) from a cruise ship: A single-hospital experience in Tokyo, Japan

Miyamae, Yuka; Hayashi, Toshiya; Yonezawa, Hitoshi; Fujihara, Jin; Matsumoto, Yousuke; Ito, Takafumi; Tsubota, Takaya; Ishii, Koji

Abstract Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which is the cause of novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) first reported in Wuhan, China, has spread across the world, and has been characterized as a global pandemic. The propagation from asymptomatic polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-positive individuals represents a complicating factor in the efforts to control the COVID-19 pandemic. We examined the course of PCR assays and duration of viral shedding in 23 asymptomatic or mild COVID-19 patients from the cruise ship who were admitted to our hospital. Among these 23 cases, the median duration of viral shedding was 19 days (range, 6-37 days) from initial viral detection. Eight cases (35%) had another positive PCR result after testing negative once. Although the duration of viral shedding was approximately 3 weeks, the infectivity and transmissibility period from asymptomatic and mild COVID-19 cases is unclear. Further studies are needed to determine how long such asymptomatic and mild COVID-19 cases have the infectivity.