If you develop symptoms, get tested right away. Otherwise, wait five to seven days. COVID-19's incubation period lasts up to 14 days. If you have the virus, it takes time to build up in your system.
The incubation period appears to be even shorter – about three days – for the Omicron variant. We know that people tend to be most infectious early in the course of their infection. With Omicron, most transmission occurs during the one to two days before onset of symptoms, and in the two to three days afterwards.
Antibodies and other viruses
Keep in mind that if a person tests negative for COVID-19 but still exhibits symptoms, they may have another virus like the flu or a respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), which a COVID-19 test would not pick up.
You can also spread COVID-19 in the 48 hours before your symptoms start. If you never have symptoms, consider yourself most infectious in the 5 days after you test positive.
You may need to get tested even if you do not have symptoms. You can have COVID-19 and spread it to others even if you do not have symptoms. Your COVID-19 test can be negative even if you are infected. Most people do not test positive for the virus until days after exposure.
People with moderate or severe COVID-19 should isolate through at least day 10. Those with severe COVID-19 may remain infectious beyond 10 days and may need to extend isolation for up to 20 days. People who are moderately or severely immunocompromised should isolate through at least day 20.
On June 30, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention added three symptoms to its COVID-19 list: Congestion/stuffy nose, nausea and diarrhea. Those three new conditions now join other symptoms identified by the CDC: Fever.
Common Symptoms
Fever or chills. A dry cough and shortness of breath. Feeling very tired. Muscle or body aches.
In infected individuals, the peak viral load occurred on day 5, with the virus first detected in the throat and then rising to significantly higher levels in the nose.
BMJ: “Covid-19: Runny nose, headache, and fatigue are commonest symptoms of omicron, early data show.”
Norway reported a similar median Omicron incubation period of 3 days (4). A study from Hong Kong, despite a small sample size (n = 13), similarly reported the estimated mean serial interval of BA.
A person may have mild symptoms for about one week, then worsen rapidly. Let your doctor know if your symptoms quickly worsen over a short period of time.
If you test positive for COVID-19 and have no symptoms – you may end after day 5. If you test positive for COVID-19 and have symptoms – you may end after day 5 if: You are fever-free for 24 hours (without the use of fever-reducing medication) Your symptoms are improving.
A hallmark of COVID-19 is its ability to get worse quickly and aggressively. While the 10 to 12 days after a positive COVID-19 test are when many patients are hospitalized, researchers do not understand what changes occur early in the disease and how they may predict hospitalization later.
Green and cloudy: viral or bacterial infection
A lot of the symptoms of viral infections – fever, cough, headache, loss of smell – overlap for COVID-19 and other viral infections like the flu, respiratory syncytial virus and the common cold.
Because COVID-19 is an illness caused by a virus, a COVID-19 sore throat may look and feel like other viral sore throats. One clue that you have viral pharyngitis is that it is often accompanied by other common symptoms.
Symptom onset
The first symptoms of COVID-19 can be more gradual. While COVID-19 symptoms can develop as early as two days after you're infected, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says five days after infection is typical.
Information: If you are eligible for treatments for COVID-19, you should take an NHS rapid lateral flow test as soon as you get symptoms.
Taken all together, the average incubation period of COVID between December 1, 2019, and February 10, 2022, was 6.57 days. Even though the incubation period is shorter, COVID-19 still has a longer incubation period than other respiratory infections.
The research shows that covid-19 headaches are most similar to either tension headaches or migraines. The symptoms of tension-like headaches include: Moderate or severe pain. Pain on both sides of the head.
In high-risk settings, they may be considered infectious from 72 hours before symptoms start. People with mild illness are generally considered recovered after 7 days if they have been asymptomatic or have not developed any new symptoms during this time.
Even if mild symptoms remain, you are likely not contagious after 10 days.
Symptoms may appear 2-14 days after exposure to the virus.
Days 1 to 4: A high temperature and fever. You do not need to have a thermometer to know if you have a temperature – you feel hot, sweaty, tired. The temperature will come and go – sometimes it goes and you feel better, then it comes back.