Reliability of Early Estimates of the Basic Reproduction Number of COVID-19: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
Bibha DhungelMohammad Shafiur RahmanMd Mahfuzur RahmanAliza K C BhandariPhuong Mai LeNushrat Alam BivaStuart GilmourPublished in: International journal of environmental research and public health (2022)
The high heterogeneity in studies makes the use of the R0 for basic epidemic planning difficult and presents a huge problem for risk assessment and data synthesis. Consensus on the use of R0 for outbreak assessment is needed, and its use for assessing epidemic risk is not recommended.