Symptoms of the illness caused by the new coronavirus develop between five to 14 days after a person is infected, according to a study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
Researchers analyzed news reports and press releases from 50 provinces, regions and countries outside of Wuhan, China. They studied information about 181 confirmed COVID-19 cases reported between Jan. 4 and Feb. 24.
They found that the median incubation period for the virus was estimated to be 5.1 days, and that most people who develop symptoms (97.5 percent) will do so within 11.5 days of contracting the virus.
Fourteen days is the standard length of quarantine or active monitoring currently being used in the public health response to the COVID-19 outbreak in the U.S.
"Our results support current proposals for the length of quarantine or active monitoring of persons potentially exposed to SARS-CoV-2, although longer monitoring periods might be justified in extreme cases," study authors concluded.