SARS-CoV-2 / COVID-19 Part 1 - Diagnostic Approaches [Digital]

The incubation period of a SARS-CoV-2 infection is up to 14 days. In this phase, infected people are contagious even if they do not show any symptoms. This greatly encourages rapid spread. Symptoms may include fever, dry cough, and muscle pain, e.g. T. also be general tiredness or diarrhea. In severe cases, pneumonia may develop, requiring intensive medical attention.

Infections with SARS-CoV-2 spread via droplet infection. The virus has been detected in secretions from the nose and throat, but also in saliva, tears and stool.

Since the course of the disease is very different and the virus is very infectious, it is not sufficient to isolate only clinically conspicuous people for quarantine measures. People who may have contracted the new coronavirus also need to be tested and isolated. As with other infectious diseases, qPCR-based or serological test methods are suitable for these tests.