Analyzing pathogen genomes from 160 patients, a team of U.K. geneticists has traced the early months of the novel coronavirus’ spread across Asia, Europe, and the Americas—and the trajectory is as complex as it is staggering.
The team, led by Cambridge University geneticist Peter Forster, drew a map of the pandemic’s spread between Dec. 24 and March 4.
“The viral network we have detailed is a snapshot of the early stages of an epidemic, before the evolutionary paths of COVID-19 become obscured by vast numbers of mutations,” Forster told Science Daily. “It’s like catching an incipient supernova in the act.”