Leveraging mobility data to analyze persistent SARS-CoV-2 mutations and inform targeted genomic surveillance.

ABSTRACT: Given the rapid cross-country spread of SARS-CoV-2 and the resulting difficulty in tracking lineage spread, we investigated the potential of combining mobile service data and fine-granular metadata (such as postal codes and genomic data) to advance integrated genomic surveillance of the pandemic in the federal state of Thuringia, Germany. We sequenced over 6500 SARS-CoV-2 Alpha genomes (B.1.1.7) across 7 months within Thuringia while collecting patients' isolation dates and postal codes. Our dataset is complemented by over 66,000 publicly available German Alpha genomes and mobile service data for Thuringia. We identified the existence and spread of nine persistent mutation variants within the Alpha lineage, seven of which formed separate phylogenetic clusters with different spreading patte

SUBMITTER: Spott R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11735024 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature