COVID-19: Incubation could be 27 days, says Chinese provincial government

KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 22): A Reuters report has stated that a 70-year-old man in China's Hubei Province who was infected with coronavirus “did not show symptoms until 27 days later”, said local authorities.

This means that the virus' incubation period could be much longer than the currently accepted 14 days.

According to the report, such a “longer incubation period could complicate efforts to contain spread of the epidemic”.

The man was reported to have had “close contact” with his sister who had been infected.

Hubei is “ground zero” of the COVID-19 outbreak.

China has so far reported 397 new confirmed cases of novel coronavirus with 109 deaths as of Feb 21 (Friday), increasing the total fatalities in the country to 2,345 so far.

The Chinese Embassy in Malaysia in its Facebook posting today said 106 new deaths were recorded in Hubei province, with one each in Hebei, Shanghai and Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps.