Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Oct 11;28(7):taab124.
doi: 10.1093/jtm/taab124.

The reproductive number of the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 is far higher compared to the ancestral SARS-CoV-2 virus

Ying Liu  1 , Joacim Rocklöv  2
Affiliations

The reproductive number of the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 is far higher compared to the ancestral SARS-CoV-2 virus

Ying Liu et al. J Travel Med. .

Abstract

The Delta variant is now replacing all other SARS-CoV-2 variants. We found a mean R0 of 5.08, which is much higher than the R0 of the ancestral strain of 2.79. Rapidly ramping up vaccine coverage rates while enhancing public health and social measures is now even more urgent and important.

Keywords: Alpha variant; B1.617.2; COVID-19; Delta variant; R0; SARS-CoV-2; Wuhan; basic reproductive number; epidemic potential; pandemic; transmissibility; variants of concerns.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Davies NG, Abbott S, Barnard RC et al. Estimated transmissibility and impact of SARS-CoV-2 lineage B. 1.1. 7 in England. Science 2021; 372:eabg3055. doi: 10.1126/science.abg3055. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Liu Y, Gayle AA, Wilder-Smith A, Rocklöv J. The reproductive number of COVID-19 is higher compared to SARS coronavirus. J Travel Med 2020; 27:taaa021. 10.1093/jtm/taaa021. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) . Improving Communications Around Vaccine Breakthrough and Vaccine Effectiveness. https://context-cdn.washingtonpost.com/notes/prod/default/documents/54f5... (29 July 2021, date last accessed).
    1. Petra Mlcochova, Steven Kemp, Mahesh Shanker Dhar, et al. . SARS-CoV-2 B.1.617.2 Delta variant emergence and vaccine breakthrough. bioRxiv 2021. doi: 10.1101/2021.05.08.443253. - DOI
    1. Ong SWX, Chiew CJ, Ang LW et al. Clinical and virological features of SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern: a retrospective cohort study comparing B.1.1.7 (Alpha), B.1.315 (Beta), and B.1.617.2 (Delta). Preprints with THE LANCET. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3861566 or 10.2139/ssrn.3861566 (8 January 2021, date last accessed). - DOI