Transmission dynamics of COVID-19 in household and community settings in the United Kingdom, January to March 2020.



Lopez Bernal, Jamie ORCID: 0000-0002-1301-5653, Panagiotopoulos, Nikolaos, Byers, Chloe, Garcia Vilaplana, Tatiana, Boddington, Nicki, Zhang, Xu-Sheng, Charlett, Andre, Elgohari, Suzanne, Coughlan, Laura ORCID: 0000-0002-0300-4950, Whillock, Rosie
et al (show 15 more authors) (2022) Transmission dynamics of COVID-19 in household and community settings in the United Kingdom, January to March 2020. Euro surveillance : bulletin Europeen sur les maladies transmissibles = European communicable disease bulletin, 27 (15). 2001551-.

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Abstract

BackgroundHouseholds appear to be the highest risk setting for COVID-19 transmission. Large household transmission studies in the early stages of the pandemic in Asia reported secondary attack rates ranging from 5 to 30%.AimWe aimed to investigate the transmission dynamics of COVID-19 in household and community settings in the UK.MethodsA prospective case-ascertained study design based on the World Health Organization FFX protocol was undertaken in the UK following the detection of the first case in late January 2020. Household contacts of cases were followed using enhanced surveillance forms to establish whether they developed symptoms of COVID-19, became confirmed cases and their outcomes. We estimated household secondary attack rates (SAR), serial intervals and individual and household basic reproduction numbers. The incubation period was estimated using known point source exposures that resulted in secondary cases.ResultsWe included 233 households with two or more people with 472 contacts. The overall household SAR was 37% (95% CI: 31-43%) with a mean serial interval of 4.67 days, an R<sub>0</sub> of 1.85 and a household reproduction number of 2.33. SAR were lower in larger households and highest when the primary case was younger than 18 years. We estimated a mean incubation period of around 4.5 days.ConclusionsRates of COVID-19 household transmission were high in the UK for ages above and under 18 years, emphasising the need for preventative measures in this setting. This study highlights the importance of the FFX protocol in providing early insights on transmission dynamics.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: Humans, Family Characteristics, Adolescent, Pandemics, United Kingdom, COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2
Divisions: Faculty of Health and Life Sciences
Faculty of Health and Life Sciences > Institute of Population Health
Depositing User: Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited: 15 Sep 2022 08:34
Last Modified: 17 Mar 2024 13:45
DOI: 10.2807/1560-7917.es.2022.27.15.2001551
Related URLs:
URI: https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3164784