Predicting infectious SARS-CoV-2 from diagnostic samples | Clinical Infectious Diseases | Oxford Academic

Predicting infectious SARS-CoV-2 from diagnostic samples | Clinical Infectious Diseases | Oxford Academic

CORONAVIRUS RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS: 1-MINUTE READS

People with COVID-19 are unlikely to spread the new coronavirus if more than eight days have passed since their symptoms began. Researchers cultured monkey cells with 90 human samples that had tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 RNA. Samples collected more than eight days after a person’s symptoms began did not infect the cells — suggesting that people who test positive for viral RNA are not necessarily infectious.
Reference: Clinical Infectious Diseases paper

The nose could be the body’s entry point for COVID-19 infections. Researchers tracked the ease with which the coronavirus infects various cell types in the respiratory tract. They found a gradient of infectivity that decreases from the upper to the lower respiratory tract: the most easily infected cells are in the nasal cavity, and the least easily infected are deep in the lungs.
Reference: Cell paper

Genetic analysis of more than 200 SARS-CoV-2 genomes from people across Israel show that only 1–10% of infected people caused 80% of the next wave of cases. The results illustrate the power of ‘superspreaders’ in viral transmission.
Reference: medRxiv preprint (not yet peer reviewed)

Get more of Nature’s continuously updated selection of the must-read papers and preprints on COVID-19.