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Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Dynamics of a national Omicron SARS-CoV-2 epidemic during January 2022 in England
AU - Elliott, Paul
AU - Eales, Oliver
AU - Bodinier, Barbara
AU - Tang, David
AU - Wang, Haowei
AU - Jonnerby, Jakob
AU - Haw, David
AU - Elliott, Joshua
AU - Whitaker, Matthew
AU - Walters, Caroline E
AU - Atchison, Christina
AU - Diggle, Peter J
AU - Page, Andrew J
AU - Trotter, Alexander J
AU - Ashby, Deborah
AU - Barclay, Wendy
AU - Taylor, Graham
AU - Ward, Helen
AU - Darzi, Ara
AU - Cooke, Graham S
AU - Chadeau-Hyam, Marc
AU - Donnelly, Christl A
PY - 2022/8/3
Y1 - 2022/8/3
N2 - Rapid transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant has led to record-breaking case incidence rates around the world. Since May 2020, the REal-time Assessment of Community Transmission-1 (REACT-1) study tracked the spread of SARS-CoV-2 infection in England through RT-PCR of self-administered throat and nose swabs from randomly-selected participants aged 5 years and over. In January 2022, we found an overall weighted prevalence of 4.41% (n = 102,174), three-fold higher than in November to December 2021; we sequenced 2,374 (99.2%) Omicron infections (19 BA.2), and only 19 (0.79%) Delta, with a growth rate advantage for BA.2 compared to BA.1 or BA.1.1. Prevalence was decreasing overall (reproduction number R = 0.95, 95% credible interval [CrI], 0.93, 0.97), but increasing in children aged 5 to 17 years (R = 1.13, 95% CrI, 1.09, 1.18). In England during January 2022, we observed unprecedented levels of SARS-CoV-2 infection, especially among children, driven by almost complete replacement of Delta by Omicron. [Abstract copyright: © 2022. The Author(s).]
AB - Rapid transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant has led to record-breaking case incidence rates around the world. Since May 2020, the REal-time Assessment of Community Transmission-1 (REACT-1) study tracked the spread of SARS-CoV-2 infection in England through RT-PCR of self-administered throat and nose swabs from randomly-selected participants aged 5 years and over. In January 2022, we found an overall weighted prevalence of 4.41% (n = 102,174), three-fold higher than in November to December 2021; we sequenced 2,374 (99.2%) Omicron infections (19 BA.2), and only 19 (0.79%) Delta, with a growth rate advantage for BA.2 compared to BA.1 or BA.1.1. Prevalence was decreasing overall (reproduction number R = 0.95, 95% credible interval [CrI], 0.93, 0.97), but increasing in children aged 5 to 17 years (R = 1.13, 95% CrI, 1.09, 1.18). In England during January 2022, we observed unprecedented levels of SARS-CoV-2 infection, especially among children, driven by almost complete replacement of Delta by Omicron. [Abstract copyright: © 2022. The Author(s).]
KW - England - epidemiology
KW - COVID-19 - epidemiology
KW - Child
KW - Specimen Handling
KW - Humans
KW - SARS-CoV-2
KW - Base Sequence
U2 - 10.1038/s41467-022-32121-6
DO - 10.1038/s41467-022-32121-6
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 35922409
VL - 13
JO - Nature Communications
JF - Nature Communications
SN - 2041-1723
IS - 1
M1 - 4500
ER -