Let us now consider two aspects of the control strategy. Firstly, we assume different efficacy in terms of reduction of breeding sites, eggs, larvae and adults to evaluate the robustness of the estimated effects of the interventions undertaken in Italy. As shown in Fig. 6b , results are robust for small variations of the efficacy of the vectors control. In a fully susceptible population the time from primary index case to secondary infections was estimated to be 11 days on average (95% CI [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] . This allows public health authorities to gain time to put in place control measures.