Surveillance – Microreact

The MicroReact website is a collaborative project funded by the Wellcome Trust which collects genetic information about pathogens spreading in the world and displays a timeline of the transmission events and geographical spread. This step will show you how to view and explore the current genetic information available publicly about the COVID-19 epidemic.

Use your web browser to open the MicroReact website. Then scroll down to find the display shown above and click on the top right panel which shows a project looking at the global distribution of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in this current pandemic

The top left panel shows a map of the world with current Covid-19 cases plotted on the map; the top right panel shows a phylogenetic tree of the virus sequence and branches as mutations appear in different geographic locations; the lower panel shows a timeline with worldwide numbers of cases.

To create an animated display of the Covid epidemic, go to the bottom panel showing the timeline and click on the icon in the top R corner to expand the control box. Then select units and choose to display by week and then in the speed drop down selection, opt for 1 week/second and finally press the play arrow.

If you would like to learn more about using these and other free, web-based tools for genomic surveillance of infectious diseases, you may be interested in the WGC Advanced Courses course on Antimicrobial resistance in bacterial pathogens, which runs twice a year.