Upper respiratory tract viral load quantification in COVID-19 patients at hospital admission and its association with disease severity.

Introduction: There are aspects of COVID-19 pathogenesis that are still unknown.

Objective: To determine the relationship between severity, mortality and viral replication in patients with COVID-19.

Methods: Clinical characteristics, severity and mortality of 203 patients hospitalized for COVID-19 were analyzed and correlated with viral load (VL) and threshold cycle (TC) at admission; nasopharyngeal swab was obtained.