New COVID variants may be more transmissible but that doesn't mean the R0 – or basic reproduction number – has increased
- Written by: Freya Shearer, Research Fellow, Epidemic Decision Support, The University of Melbourne
During the pandemic we have all become familiar with a lot of epidemiological concepts.
One that was introduced to us early in 2020 is the “basic reproductive number”, or R0. This tells us about the intrinsic contagiousness of a virus, or its inherent capacity to be spread from one person to another in a particular population.
We also...