Forty-four percent of Covid-19 infections occur before the onset of symptoms, renowned scientist Prof. Malik Peiris said.
Prof. Peiris told a meeting organised by the Ceylon College of Physicians recently that the transmission risk of Covid-19 is higher in exposure less than five days of the onset of the symptom, pre-symptomatic exposure and household exposure.
The transmission of Covid-19 decreases rapidly after day five, six and seven. Therefore, after 8 - 10 days, the Covid-19 infected person is not infectious even if his/her PCR test shows a positive result, he said.
Prof. Peiris is currently the Chair of Virology and Tam Wah Ching Professor in Medical Science at School of Public Health, University of Hong Kong. He co-directs the WHO Influenza H5 Reference laboratory, directs the HKU-Pasteur Research Pole and is an Affiliated Professor of the Institut Pasteur, Paris.
He graduated from the University of Ceylon (MBBS) in 1972.