SARS-CoV-2 nasopharyngeal viral load in individuals infected with BA.2, compared to Alpha, Gamma, Delta and BA.1 variants: A single-center comparative analysis.

"Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare no conflict of interest for the present study."

"Funding The study was performed in the framework of the SARS-CoV-2 surveillance and response program implemented by the Lazio Region Health Authority. This study was supported by funds to the National institute for Infectious Diseases “Lazzaro Spallanzani”, IRCCS, Rome (Italy), from Italian Ministry of Health (Programme CCM 2020; Ricerca Corrente - Linea 1 on emerging and re-emerging infections) and from the European Commission - Horizon 2020 (CoNVat, Grant agreement ID 101003544; KRONO, Grant agreement ID 101005075). Alessandro Cozzi-Lepri work is supported by EuCARE project funded bythe EU under the HORIZON Europe programme, Grant agreement n. 6944397."