The incubation period of COVID-19: A meta-analysis

Abstract

Highlights Knowledge of the incubation period is essential for the SARS-CoV-2 case definition. The mean incubation period was equal to 6.38 days 95% CI [5.79; 6.97] ranging from 2.33 to 17.60 days. A real time meta-analysis, called the InCoVid-Lyon, is proposed.

Impact of non-pharmaceutical interventions against COVID-19 in Europe in 2020: a quasi-experimental non-equivalent group and time series design study

“…Monitoring by week number was appropriate with regard to case counts, given that the incubation period tends to be ca 5 days [15][16][17][18] and a small lag between symptom onset and obtaining test results is likely: thus, total days elapsed from exposure to changes in recorded case counts has tended to be ca 7 days.…”

A snapshot of a pandemic: The interplay between social isolation and COVID-19 dynamics in Brazil

“…This is done since any effect of the social distancing on the incidence observed in a day should be due to the social distancing of at least 1 week before, as we ought to account for the incubation period or the serial interval (between 2 and 14 days). 22 , 33 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 The 7-day average ensures that specific day-of-the-week effects are removed from data. Additionally, in early stages of this study, different lag periods were analyzed and this chosen period (7–13 days of delay) provided adequate fittings, in agreement with other studies that also looked at relations between the daily number of COVID-19 cases with the human mobility 13 , 36 or contact 16 indexes.…”

Can integrated post-exposure vaccination against SARS-COV2 mitigate severe disease?

“…While the COVID19 incubation time is sometimes given as 5 days [3] it is worth looking at deviations from this mean value. In a meta-analysis of 99 studies mean incubation periods ranged from 2.3 to 17.6 days with an overall mean of 6.38 days and a range of 15.27 days, with no significant difference by age and gender [15] . Similar estimates (5.74, 95%CI 5.18–6.3; 5.7, 95%CI 5.1–6.4) were found in two other meta-analysis of 15 and 18 partially overlapping studies [ 16 , 17 ].…”

“…In the meta-analyses of Elias et al. [15] the median incubation period was 5.41 days with a large heterogeneity between studies, indicating that overall, 50% of cases had incubations times longer than 5.41 days. Also 40% of the studies included had mean and median values above the 5.41 median average days [15] .…”

“… [15] the median incubation period was 5.41 days with a large heterogeneity between studies, indicating that overall, 50% of cases had incubations times longer than 5.41 days. Also 40% of the studies included had mean and median values above the 5.41 median average days [15] . During the early phase of the outbreak studies of incubation times could be established with more confidence than when the virus was more widespread, in particular when travellers arriving from a high incidence to a low incidence area [18] .…”