The Health Information and Quality Authority has published its evidence review behind the decision to reduce the incubation period for people who test positive in the community for Covid-19 from 14 days to ten.
It examined 15 international studies. Dr Máirín Ryan, HIQA deputy CEO, said that from the evidence, it found that patients with mild to moderate Covid-19 disease are unlikely to be infectious beyond ten days from their first symptoms.
However, she said that some limited evidence from a small number of studies found that patients with severe-to-critical symptoms and those who are immunocompromised may be infectious for 20 days or more.