@inproceedings{7725d684babf469290dccc1650996adb,
title = "Phylogenetic Analyses of SARS-CoV-2 Strains Reveal Its Link to the Spread of COVID-19 Across the Globe",
abstract = "This study leveraged the phylogenetic analysis of more than 10K strains of novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) from 67 countries. Due to the requirement of high-end computational power for phylogenetic analysis, we leverage a fast yet highly accurate alignment-free method to develop the phylogenetic tree out of all the strains of novel coronavirus. K-Means clustering and PCA-based dimension reduction technique were used to identify a representative strain from each location. The resulting phylogenetic tree was able to highlight evolutionary relationships of SARS-CoV-2 genome and, subsequently, linked to the interpretation of facts and figures across the globe for the spread of COVID-19. Our analysis revealed that the geographical boundaries could not be explained by the phylogenetic analysis of novel coronavirus as it placed different countries from Asia, Europe and the USA in very close proximity in the tree. Instead, the commute of people from one country to another is the key to the spread of COVID-19. We believe our study will support the policymakers to contain the spread of COVID-19 globally.",
keywords = "COVID-19, Coronavirus, Phylogenetic tree",
author = "Shashata Sawmya and Arpita Saha and Sadia Tasnim and Naser Anjum and Md Toufikuzzaman and Rafid, \{Ali Haisam Muhamad\} and Rahman, \{Mohammad Saifur\} and Rahman, \{M. Sohel\} and Tanvir Alam",
note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2022 International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA) and IOS Press.; 18th World Congress on Medical and Health Informatics: One World, One Health - Global Partnership for Digital Innovation, MEDINFO 2021 ; Conference date: 02-10-2021 Through 04-10-2021",
year = "2022",
month = jun,
day = "6",
doi = "10.3233/SHTI220174",
language = "English",
series = "Studies in Health Technology and Informatics",
publisher = "IOS Press BV",
pages = "729--733",
editor = "Paula Otero and Philip Scott and Martin, \{Susan Z.\} and Elaine Huesing",
booktitle = "MEDINFO 2021",
address = "Netherlands",
}