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Serial interval of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) infections

Open access
Nishiura, Hiroshi, Linton, Natalie M., Akhmetzhanov, Andrei R.·2020·International Journal of Infectious Diseases

Published version of a preprint

Abstract

Abstract Objective To estimate the serial interval of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) from information on 28 infector-infectee pairs. Methods We collected dates of illness onset for primary cases (infectors) and secondary cases (infectees) from published research articles and case investigation reports. We subjectively ranked the credibility of the data and performed analyses on both the full dataset ( n =28) and a subset of pairs with highest certainty in reporting ( n =18). In addition, we adjusting for right truncation of the data as the epidemic is still in its growth phase. Results Accounting for right truncation and analyzing all pairs, we estimated the median serial interval at 4.0 days (95% credible interval [CrI]: 3.1, 4.9). Limiting our data to only the most certain pairs, the median serial interval was estimated at 4.6 days (95% CrI: 3.5, 5.9). Conclusions The serial interval of COVID-19 is shorter than its median incubation period. This suggests that a substantial proportion of secondary transmission may occur prior to illness onset. The COVID-19 serial interval is also shorter than the serial interval of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), indicating that calculations made using the SARS serial interval may introduce bias. Highlights - The serial interval of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) infections was estimated from a total of 28 infector-infectee pairs. - The median serial interval is shorter than the median incubation period, suggesting a substantial proportion of pre-symptomatic transmission. - A short serial interval makes it difficult to trace contacts due to the rapid turnover of case generations.

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Metadata

Authors
Nishiura, H., Linton, N. M., & Akhmetzhanov, A. R.
Venue
International Journal of Infectious Diseases
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2020-04
Volume
93
Pages
284-286
ISSN
1201-9712 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W3009983851
Cited by
1,083
References
9
FWCI
39.61
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
gold
Licence
Funders
  • Japan Science and Technology Agency
  • Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology
  • Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (17H04701, 18H04895, 17H05808, 19H01074)
  • Core Research for Evolutional Science and Technology (JPMJCR1413)
  • Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (JP18fk0108050)

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CoChat. (2026). Citation check: Serial interval of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) infections. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.1016/j.ijid.2020.02.060
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Nishiura, H., Linton, N. M., & Akhmetzhanov, A. R. (2020). Serial interval of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) infections. International Journal of Infectious Diseases. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijid.2020.02.060

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