A new study in Singapore has theorized that patients still positive for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) are no longer infectious after 11 days.
In a joint research paper by Singapore’s National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID) and the Academy of Medicine in Singapore, it found that positive patients do not equate to infectiousness.
NCID executive director Leo Yee Sin said that the virus can’t be cultured after the 11th day of contracting the illness.
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“Scientifically, I’m very confident that there is enough evidence that the person is no longer infectious after 11 days,” he told Straits Times.
He added that the research could affect the rules of discharging patients in most countries—where you’re only allowed to leave once you test negative twice.
The country’s Ministry of Health said they will check if the new findings can be incorporated into their discharge plan. If it happens, over 80 percent of patients would be allowed to go home after 11 days, and only those in a critical state will stay in the hospital to get treated.
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