Inference of person-to-person transmission of COVID-19 reveals hidden super-spreading events during the early outbreak phase

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was first identified in late 2019 in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China and spread globally in months, sparking worldwide concern. However, it is unclear whether super-spreading events occurred during the early outbreak phase, as has been observed for other emerging viruses. Here, we analyse 208 publicly available SARSCoV-2 genome sequences collected during the early outbreak phase. We combine phylogenetic analysis with Bayesian inference under an epidemiological model to trace person-toperson transmission. The dispersion parameter of the offspring distribution in the inferred transmission chain was estimated to be 0.23 (95% CI: 0.13–0.38), indicating there are individuals who directly infected a disproportionately large number of people. Our results showed that super-spreading events played an important role in the early stage of the COVID-19 outbreak

• Tipo de recurso: Article of investigation
• Fecha de publicación: 2020
• Institución: Universidad de Bogotá Jorge Tadeo Lozano
• Repositorio: Expeditio: repositorio UTadeo
• Idioma: eng
• OAI Identifier: oai:expeditiorepositorio.utadeo.edu.co:20.500.12010/14426
• Acceso en línea: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-18836-4; http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12010/14426
• Palabra clave: Inference of person-to-person; Transmission of COVID-19; Síndrome respiratorio agudo grave; COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; Coronavirus
• License: Abierto (Texto Completo)