Mitosis of hepatitis B virus-infected cells in vitro results in uninfected daughter cells

•HBV persists over decades in the liver, leading to chronic inflammation and serious liver disease.•Controversy exists over the fate of viral DNA after cell mitosis, which is crucial to understanding viral persistence.•We find here that 2 completely uninfected daughter cells are generated when infected cells undergo mitosis.•Our results suggest that therapies that induce turnover of infected cells could facilitate the clearance of chronic HBV infection.