Why should close contacts of COVID-19 be isolated for 14 days?

People who are at physical proximity of a COVID-19 patient are called close contacts. Close contacts need to be isolated for 14 days. During the live broadcast of "Famous doctors are around you" on Tencent Medpedia, Liu Youning with the PLA General Hospital, pointed out that the incubation period of the coronavirus ranges from 4 days to 2 weeks. The longest incubation period in the history of close contact observed by medical workers is set as the observation period. If the observed object does not show any symptoms after the longest incubation period, usually they are confirmed to be safe.

(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)