Background: The spatial and temporal dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 have been mainly described in form of case series or retrospective studies. In this study, we aimed to provide a coherent overview from published studies of the duration of viral detection and viral load in COVID-19 patients, stratified by specimen type, clin. severity and age. Method: We systematically searched PubMed/MEDLINE and Cochrane review database for studies published between 1. Nov. 2019 and 23rd of Apr. 2020. We included studies that reported individual viral data over time measuring neg. conversion by two consecutive neg. tests, individual clin. severity and age. We excluded studies that reported viral data as patient fraction, reported only baseline data, included solely asymptomatic patients or were interventional studies. Extracted data included author, title, design, sample size, thresholds and genes of RT-PCR, patient age, COVID-19 severity, clin. characteristics, treatment, location of viral sampling, duration of viral detection, and viral load. We pooled the data of selected studies to determine effect estimates of duration of viral detection. Combined viral load was visualized over time. Findings Out of 7226 titles screened, 37 studies met the inclusion criteria and were included in the qual. anal. and 22 studies in the quant. anal. comprising 650 COVID-19 patients. The pooled estimate of the duration of pos. detection of the virus was in mild adult patients 12.1 days (CI: 10.12, 14.05) after symptom onset in the upper respiratory tract (URT), 24.1 days (CI: 10.02, 38.19) in lower respiratory tract (LRT), and 15.5 days (CI: 8.04, 22.88) in faeces. Further, in mild adult patients, the maximum viral load was ~6.61 x 108 viral copies/mL in the URT and ~2.69 x 108 viral copies/mL in the LRT, within the first week of symptom onset. The maximum viral load in faeces was reported as ~3.55 x 107 copies/mL on Day 9. In moderate-severe adult patients, the pooled estimate of mean duration of pos. viral detection in the URT was 15.8 days (CI: 11.12, 20.56) after symptom onset, 23.2 days (CI: 21.49, 24.97) in the LRT, 20.8 days (CI: 16.40, 25.17) in faeces. The maximum viral load was 4.60 x 109 copies/mL on Day 8 in the URT, 3.45 x 108 copies/mL on Day 11 in the LRT, 2.76 x 106 copies/mL on Day 18 in faeces and 1 x 104 copies/mL on Day 3 in blood. In children with mild symptoms, the pooled estimate of the mean duration of pos. SARS-CoV-2 viral detection was 11.1 days (CI: 7.14, 15.11) in the URT and 16.0 days (CI: 11.49, 20,47) in the faeces, without reporting quant. viral data. Viral positivity was detected in the urine and eye in one patient. Interpretation Our anal. showed consistent viral detection from specimen from the URT, the LRT and faeces, irresp. of the clin. severity of COVID-19. Our anal. suggests that SARS-CoV-2 persists for a longer duration in the LRT compared to the URT, whereas the differences in the duration of viral detection between mild and moderate-severe patients is limited in the LRT, but an indication of longer duration of viral detection in feces and the URT for moderate-severe patients was shown. Further, viral load was demonstrated to peak in the URT within first weak of infection, whereas maximum viral load has been observed to occur later and within the second week of infection in the LRT.