Viral shedding began within two days of infection and the viral load increased to high levels and remained detectable for as long as 12 days after exposure to the virus. The study did not find any quantitative correlation between viral load and symptoms; high viral load and high viral shedding were seen even among participants who were asymptomatic. This suggests how wrong it is to consider asymptomatic people as less likely to infect others as such people are believed to have low viral load. Among the six remdesivir-treated individuals, there was an apparent trend towards lower viral load in the nose during treatment and peaking of viral load was also delayed. “However, at its peak, viral load was significantly higher in nasal samples,” they write.

Source: The Hindu February 13, 2022 00:06 UTC