2021-03-04

CoVerage analyses lineage dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 variants

HZI bioinformaticians have developed a web resource that predicts the spread of SARS-CoV-2 variants

The CoVerage tool analyses the lineage dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 strains, i.e. determines how successfully which virus strain spreads. The web resource uses input from the Gisaid genome database. Gisaid is an international initiative that aims to make research data rapidly available to the public. Scientists from all over the world contribute genome sequences of viruses such as H1N1, influenza or SARS-CoV-2 to the database, thus providing a broad overview of mutations and their genetic differences. However, to predict the spread potential of these mutations, a simple count of incidences is not sufficient.

Illustration of the SARS-CoV-2 lineage dynamics by region.User interface of the CoVerage-Website schows the SARS-CoV-2 lineage dynamics by region. ©CoVerage

CoVerage enables evaluation of epidemiological dynamics of different SARS-CoV-2 variants

This is where the CoVerage web resource comes in. It can be used to identify particularly successful SARS-COV-2 lines and predict their further spread, taking epidemiological information into account. The evaluation provided by CoVerage also makes it possible to draw conclusions about country-specific developments.

CoVerage was developed by scientists in the HZI department Computational Biology of Infection Research headed by Prof Alice McHardy.

Free access to the web resource is available at: https://sarscoverage.org.

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