Figure 3

Transmission rate \((\beta \left(t\right))\) for various lengths of incubation period and reproduction rate \({\text{R}}_{t}\). (a, c) The transmission rate for various incubation periods (\(1/\upsigma )\) are shown for Guinea and Sierra Leone. All transmission curves intersect at a single point (CP), which is independent of the incubation period. As the incubation period increases, the transmission rate exhibits a higher maximum value and decays more rapidly thereafter. CP (237, 0.1076) and CP (185, 0.1003) indicate that the transmission rate curves intersect at a common point on the 237th day with a transmission value of 0.1076 for Guinea and on the 185th day with a value of 0.1003 for Sierra Leone. (b, d) the plots depict β(t) and \({\text{R}}_{t}\) for incubation periods of 11.4 days for Guinea and 10.14 days for Sierra Leone. In both cases, CP appears approximately 4 days earlier than \({\text{R}}_{t}=1\).