Serial intervals in SARS-CoV-2 B.1.617.2 variant cases.

The SARS-CoV-2 lineage B.1.617.2, also known as the delta variant, was declared a variant of concern by WHO on the basis of preliminary evidence suggesting faster spread relative to other circulating variants. However, the epidemiological factors contributing to this difference remain unclear. In particular, an increase in observed growth rate of COVID-19 cases could be the result of a shorter generation interval (i.e., the delay from one infection to the next) or an increase in the effective reproduction number, R, of an infected individual (i.e., the average number of secondary cases generated by an infectious individual), or both. Whereas a shorter generation interval would increase the speed but not the number of individual-level transmissions, a larger value of R would require both faster and wider coverage of outbreak control measures such as vaccination or physical distancing to suppress transmission.