Serial Interval and Transmission Dynamics during SARS-CoV-2 Delta Variant Predominance, South Korea

A s of August 2021, South Korea is in the middle of a fourth community epidemic of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) transmission, which is now predominated by the B.1.617.2 lineage (Delta variant) (1,2). The epidemic size largely depends on such epidemiologic characteristics as serial interval distribution and transmissibility (3,4). For the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2, however, empirical evidence produced using country-level data are limited. We estimated serial interval distribution, reproductive numbers, and superspreading potential of SARS-CoV-2 during the Delta variant predominance in South Korea.