BackgroundThe serial interval is the period of time between symptom onset in the primary case and symptom onset in the secondary case. Understanding the serial interval is important for determining transmission dynamics of infectious diseases like COVID-19, including the reproduction number and secondary attack rates, which could influence control measures. Early meta-analyses of COVID-19 reported serial intervals of 5.2 days (95% CI: 4.9–5.5) for the original wild-type variant and 5.2 days (95% CI: 4.87–5.47) for Alpha variant. The serial interval has been shown to decrease over the course of an epidemic for other respiratory diseases, which may be due to accumulating viral mutations and implementation of more effective nonpharmaceutical interventions. We therefore aggregated the literature to estimate serial intervals for Delta and Omicron variants.MethodsThis study followed Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses guidelines. A systematic literature search was conducted of PubMed, Scopus, Cochrane Library, ScienceDirect, and preprint server medRxiv for articles published from April 4, 2021, through May 23, 2023. Search terms were: (“serial interval” or “generation time”), (“Omicron” or “Delta”), and (“SARS-CoV-2” or “COVID-19”). Meta-analyses were done for Delta and Omicron variants using a restricted maximum-likelihood estimator model with a random effect for each study. Pooled average estimates and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) are reported.ResultsThere were 46,648 primary/secondary case pairs included for the meta-analysis of Delta and 18,324 for Omicron. Mean serial interval for included studies ranged from 2.3–5.8 days for Delta and 2.1–4.8 days for Omicron. The pooled mean serial interval for Delta was 3.9 days (95% CI: 3.4–4.3) (20 studies) and Omicron was 3.2 days (95% CI: 2.9–3.5) (20 studies). Mean estimated serial interval for BA.1 was 3.3 days (95% CI: 2.8–3.7) (11 studies), BA.2 was 2.9 days (95% CI: 2.7–3.1) (six studies), and BA.5 was 2.3 days (95% CI: 1.6–3.1) (three studies).ConclusionsSerial interval estimates for Delta and Omicron were shorter than ancestral SARS-CoV-2 variants. More recent Omicron subvariants had even shorter serial intervals suggesting serial intervals may be shortening over time. This suggests more rapid transmission from one generation of cases to the next, consistent with the observed faster growth dynamic of these variants compared to their ancestors. Additional changes to the serial interval may occur as SARS-CoV-2 continues to circulate and evolve. Changes to population immunity (due to infection and/or vaccination) may further modify it.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12879-023-08407-5.