Estimating the transmissibility of SARS-CoV-2 VOC 202012/01 in Japan using travel history information

<abstract> <p>Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), has rapidly spread across the globe. The variant of concern (VOC) 202012/01 (B.1.1.7, also known as the alpha variant) bearing the N501Y mutation emerged in late 2020. VOC 202012/01 was more transmissible than existing SARS-CoV-2 variants and swiftly became dominant in many regions. More than 150 cases of VOC 202012/01 were reported in Japan by 26 February 2021. During the very early stage of introduction, only a subset arose from domestic transmission. If the reproduction number <italic>R</italic> (i.e., the average number of secondary transmission events caused by a single primary case) is greater than 1, the corresponding proportion should converge to 1 in a short period of time, and thus it is critical to understand the transmissibility of VOC 202012/01 based on travel history information. The present study aimed to estimate <italic>R</italic> of VOC 202012/01 using overseas travel history information. A mathematical model was developed to capture the relationship between travel history and <italic>R</italic>. We obtained travel history data for each confirmed case of VOC 202012/01 infection from 26 December 2020 to 26 February 2021. Maximum likelihood estimation was used to estimate <italic>R</italic>, accounting for right censoring during real-time estimation. In the baseline scenario, <italic>R</italic> was estimated at 2.11 (95% confidence interval: 1.63, 2.94). By 26 February 2021, an average of nine generations had elapsed since the first imported case. If the generation time of VOC 202012/01 was assumed to be longer, <italic>R</italic> was increased, consistent with estimates of <italic>R</italic> from case data. The estimated <italic>R</italic> of VOC 202012/01 in Japan exceeded 1 on 26 February 2021, suggesting that domestic transmission events caused a major epidemic. Moreover, because our estimate of <italic>R</italic> was dependent on generation time and ascertainment biases, continuous monitoring of contact tracing data is crucial to decipher the mechanisms of increased VOC 202012/01 transmissibility.</p> </abstract>