The new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 that causes the viral disease COVID-19 has an average incubation time of 5.1 days, compared to the median value. The incubation period is the time someone carries the virus from being infected to the onset of the disease. '

The new study is published today in the Annals of Internal Medicine, and also shows that the incubation period almost never exceeds one and a half weeks.

181 disease cases were analyzed

The researchers collected data on disease cases where the incubation time could be determined. The final study is an analysis of 181 such cases.

These were from 24 countries outside China, as well as 25 provinces in China - all but outside Hubei Province, where Wuhan is the capital and the first cases of COVID-19 were reported.

60 percent of those infected were men, 36 percent were women and 2 percent were of unknown gender.

In their analysis, they concluded that the median value for how long it took for someone to be infected to show the symptoms was 5.1 days. This is roughly the same incubation time as for the 2003 SARS virus.

The median value from the onset of the disease until the patient ended up in hospital was 1.2 days.