An open-source bioinformatics resource has collated data on over 2500 genomes of SARS-CoV-2 internationally, and made the resource available for researchers, epidemiologists and public health teams to use. Mutations which occur randomly in the process of viral replication can be used to model transmission.

The image above shows the evolution of SARS-CoV-2 as it diverged from the initial genome  Wuhan-Hu-1/2019 over time from December 2019 to March 2020. The different colours represent different countries where each virus genome was detected.

This image relates the differing genomic viral strains to the world map.

Visit Nextstrain to play with the interactive data (available in multiple languages)

References

Nextstrain. Genomic epidemiology of novel coronavirus. Available from: https://nextstrain.org/ncov?l=unrooted [Accessed 2.4.20]

This post was written by Dr Rachel Coles, Paeditric trainee, 2nd April 2020.