The aim of this project is to provide a continuously updated view of the genetic structure of SARS-CoV-2 in and around Düsseldorf.

To achieve this aim, in collaboration with Zotz | Klimas, a large diagnostic lab in Düsseldorf, 20 - 30 SARS-CoV-2-positive samples are selected each week and the viral genomes of the isolates are detected.

The genetic material of the SARS-CoV-2 virus is subsequently amplified and sequenced in a joint process of the Institute of Medical Microbiology and Hospital Hygiene and the Institute of Virology at the University Clinic in Düsseldorf.

The SARS-CoV-2 genomic sequences of the samples are compared among each other and edit distances between the sequences are calculated using edlib.

The visualiziation is based on a minimum spanning tree that is generated for the pairwise distance matrix using the Python library networkx.

For the physical behaviour and the interactivity of this plot we utilize the D3.js library. The distance matrix and the visualization are automatically updated when newly curated sequences become available.