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. 2022 Feb;27(6):2200042.
doi: 10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2022.27.6.2200042.

Shorter serial intervals in SARS-CoV-2 cases with Omicron BA.1 variant compared with Delta variant, the Netherlands, 13 to 26 December 2021

Jantien A Backer  1 , Dirk Eggink  1 , Stijn P Andeweg  1 , Irene K Veldhuijzen  1 , Noortje van Maarseveen  2   3 , Klaas Vermaas  2 , Boris Vlaemynck  4 , Raf Schepers  4 , Susan van den Hof  1 , Chantal Bem Reusken  1 , Jacco Wallinga  1   5
Affiliations

Shorter serial intervals in SARS-CoV-2 cases with Omicron BA.1 variant compared with Delta variant, the Netherlands, 13 to 26 December 2021

Jantien A Backer et al. Euro Surveill. 2022 Feb.

Abstract

The SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant has a growth advantage over the Delta variant because of higher transmissibility, immune evasion or shorter serial interval. Using S gene target failure (SGTF) as indication for Omicron BA.1, we identified 908 SGTF and 1,621 non-SGTF serial intervals in the same period. Within households, the mean serial interval for SGTF cases was 0.2-0.6 days shorter than for non-SGTF cases. This suggests that the growth advantage of Omicron is partly due to a shorter serial interval.

Keywords: COVID-19; Incubation period; Omicron variant; SARS-CoV-2; serial interval; transmission pairs.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest: None declared.

Figures

Figure
Figure
Observed distribution of serial interval of SARS-CoV-2 transmission pairs with infectors having their symptom onset date in week 50 (13–19 December 2021), the Netherlands (n = 1,154)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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