Abstract
SARS-CoV-2 variants raise concern regarding the mortality caused by COVID-19 epidemics. We analyse 88,375 cycle amplication (Ct) values from variant-specic RT-PCR tests performed between January 26 and March 13, 2021. We estimate that on March 12, nearly 85% of the infections were caused by the Alpha variant and that its transmission advantage over wild type strains was between 38 and 44%. We also nd that tests positive for Alpha and Beta/Gamma variants exhibit signicantly lower cycle threshold (Ct) values.