The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has said that a negative laboratory test is no longer required to discharge a COVID-19 patient, as symptomatic patients will be discharged earlier than usual after they have stop showing symptoms of the disease – fever and respiratory symptoms).
According to the Director-General of the NCDC, Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu, asymptomatic patients will now also be discharge 14 days after their first positive test to the virus.
This is based on new data from Singapore that shows that RNA detected beyond 10 days is no longer infectious as no viable virus is grown by viral culture. .
Therefore, such patients will be discharged but advised to continue self-isolating at home one week after discharge.
According to him: “There have been new science emerging about the duration of infectivity of individual patients. It led to the WHO issuing new clinical guidelines.”
