GENERAL INFORMATION 1. Title of Dataset: Detection of SARS-CoV-2 in conjunctival secretion and tears in patients with COVID-19 in a tertiary care centre, South India. 2. Author Information 1. Dr Rajesh R. Nayak, Associate Professor, Department of Ophthalmology, Kasturba Medical College, Mangalore, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, Karnataka, India – 575001. Mail id: rajesh.nayak@manipal.edu Co-Investigators: 1.Dr Sevitha Bhat Associate Professor, Department of Microbiology, Kasturba Medical College, Mangalore, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, Karnataka, India-575001 Mail id : sevitha.bhat@manipal.edu,corresponding author 2.Dr Ajay R Kamath Professor and Head , Department of Ophthalmology, Kasturba Medical College, Mangalore, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, Karnataka, India-575001 Mail id : kamath.ajay@manipal.edu 3.Dr Anshul Chandak Postgraduate Student, Department of Ophthalmology, Kasturba Medical College, Mangalore, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, Karnataka, India-575001 Mail id : anshul145@yahoo.com 4.Dr Kanishk Khare Postgraduate Student, Department of Ophthalmology, Kasturba Medical College, Mangalore, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, Karnataka, India-575001 Mail id : kanishkkhare@gmail.com 3. Date of data collection (single date, range, approximate date):01-07-2021 to 31-08-2021 4. Geographic location of data collection Mangalore,Karnataka,India 5. Information about funding sources that supported the collection of the data: Nil SHARING/ACCESS INFORMATION 1. Licenses/restrictions placed on the data: Nil 2. Links to publications that cite or use the data: Nil 3. Links to other publicly accessible locations of the data: Nil 4. Links/relationships to ancillary data sets: Nil 5. Was data derived from another source? no A. If yes, list source(s): 6. Recommended citation for this dataset: DATA & FILE OVERVIEW 1. File List: data_sheet.xlsx, 2. Relationship between files, if important: 3. Additional related data collected that was not included in the current data package: 4. Are there multiple versions of the dataset? no METHODOLOGICAL INFORMATION Study participants: Patients admitted with a positive nasopharyngeal swab for SARS-CoV-2 within a duration of 1 week, and age of more than 18 years. Patients with Covid-19 like symptoms but whose RT-PCR was negative for Covid-19 were excluded. Critically ill patients who couldn’t give consent were also excluded. Patients presenting complaints were noted along with any ocular complaints. The patient’s co-morbidities were recorded and clinical parameters on presentation like body temperature and oxygen saturation (SpO2) were also taken from the patient’s medical record. Day of nasopharyngeal swab collection was recorded and days between the nasopharyngeal swab collection and conjunctival swab collection was calculated for every patient. Written informed consent was obtained from patients before sample collection. Sample collection- A bedside ophthalmologist examination was done and the patient’s eyelids, adnexa, conjunctiva, and cornea were examined before collection of samples. The sample was collected under aseptic conditions by the same ophthalmologist who was donned in personal protective equipment. Samples were collected by using nylon flocked swabs by sweeping movement over the inferior fornix from the medial to the lateral direction. Sample from both eyes was collected for each patient using separate swab sticks without the use of any topical anaesthetic drops. Both swab sticks were then dipped into a single viral transport medium and transferred to the institutional microbiology lab, maintaining a proper cold chain at all times. The RTPCR was performed on the samples using the kit protocol and the results were recorded . Statistical analysis- All the data was entered into an excel sheet and analyzed using IBM SPSS version 25. The continuous and categorical variables have been represented as mean ± standard deviation and frequency percentages respectively. The association between conjunctival swab positivity and variables like the severity of COVID, presence of symptoms such as fever, breathlessness, cough, fatigue, myalgia, diarrhoea, and ocular symptoms were analyzed using the chi-square test. Correlation between the duration of days after which conjunctival swab is tested positive from the day of nasopharyngeal swab positivity, and oxygen saturation was done using Pearson’s correlation and p <0.05 was considered significant DATA-SPECIFIC INFORMATION FOR: data_sheet.xlsx 1. Number of variables: 22 2. Number of cases/rows: 80 3. Variable List: Variable A: Specimen number Variable B: age in years Variable C: Sex,female :1,male: 2 Variable D: Conjunctival swab positivity for SARS Cov2 ,0: Negative,1: positive Variable E: Category of severity ,1-mild ,2-moderate,3-severe Variable F: Fever ,0-absent, 1-present Variable G: Breathlessness,0-absent, 1-present Variable H :cough ,0-absent, 1-present Variable I : Fatigue ,0-absent, 1-present Variable J: Myalgia ,0-absent, 1-present Variable K:Diarrhoea,0-absent, 1-present Variable L: Ocular symptoms,0-absent, 1-present Variable M:Diabetes mellitus ,0-absent, 1-present Variable N:Hypertension: 0-absent, 1-present Variable O:COPD: 0-absent, 1-present Variable P: Ischaemic heart disease: 0-absent, 1-present Variable Q : Day of nasopharyngeal swab positivity Variable R: Day of conjunctival swab positivity Varaible S : Temperature in degree F Variable T : Oxygen saturation in % Variable U: Respiratory rate in breaths per minute Variable V: CT Scan Chest finding, 0= no involvement to a lobe (0%), 1= minimal involvement to a lobe (1–25%)