The Incubation Period Distribution of Coronavirus Disease 2019: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Incubation period is an important parameter to inform quarantine period and to study transmission dynamics of infectious diseases. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis on published estimates of the incubation period distribution of coronavirus disease 2019, and showed that the pooled median of the point estimates of the mean, median and 95th percentile for incubation period are 6.3 days (range, 1.8-11.9 days), 5.4 days (range, 2.0-17.9 days), and 13.1 days (range, 3.2-17.8 days), respectively. Estimates of the mean and 95th percentile of the incubation period distribution were considerably shorter before the epidemic peak in China compared to after the peak, and variation was also noticed for different choices of methodological approach in estimation. Our findings implied that corrections may be needed before directly applying estimates of incubation period into control of or further studies on emerging infectious diseases.

Automated summary

The study found that the pooled median estimates of the mean, median, and 95th percentile for the incubation period of COVID-19 are 6.3 days, 5.4 days, and 13.1 days respectively. The estimates were significantly shorter before the epidemic peak in China compared to after, and variances were noticed for different methodological approaches.