Identification of Epidemiological Traits by Analysis of SARS-CoV-2 Sequences

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has caused the ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic that began in late December 2019. The rapid spread of SARS-CoV-2 is primarily due to person-to-person transmission. To understand the epidemiological traits of SARS-CoV-2 transmission, we conducted phylogenetic analysis on genome sequences from >54K SARS-CoV-2 cases obtained from two public databases. Hierarchical clustering analysis on geographic patterns in the resulting phylogenetic trees revealed a co-expansion tendency of the virus among neighboring countries with diverse sources and transmission routes for SARS-CoV-2. Pairwise sequence similarity analysis demonstrated that SARS-CoV-2 is transmitted locally and evolves during transmission. However, no significant differences were seen among SARS-CoV-2 genomes grouped by host age or sex. Here, our identified epidemiological traits provide information to better prevent transmission of SARS-CoV-2 and to facilitate the development of effective vaccines and therapeutics against the virus.