Bobo Wing-Yee Mok et al. observe that the Alpha (B.1.1.7) variant of SARS-CoV-2 exhibits increased competitive fitness over earlier lineages at lower doses in a hamster model of viral transmission. Their results suggest that the Alpha variant’s ability to initiate effective infection with a low dose may underlie its ability to rapidly transmit throughout a population.
- Bobo Wing-Yee Mok
- Honglian Liu
- Honglin Chen
