Analysis of the Genomic Distance Between Bat Coronavirus RaTG13 and SARS-CoV-2 Reveals Multiple Origins of COVID-19

The severe acute respiratory syndrome COVID-19 was discovered on December 31, 2019 in China. Subsequently, many COVID-19 cases were reported in many other countries. However, some positive COVID-19 samples had been reported earlier than those officially accepted by health authorities in other countries, such as France and Italy. Thus, it is of great importance to determine the place where SARS-CoV-2 was first transmitted to human. To this end, we analyze genomes of SARS-CoV-2 using k-mer natural vector method and compare the similarities of global SARS-CoV-2 genomes by a new natural metric. Because it is commonly accepted that SARS-CoV-2 is originated from bat coronavirus RaTG13, we only need to determine which SARS-CoV-2 genome sequence has the closest distance to bat coronavirus RaTG13 under our natural metric. From our analysis, SARS-CoV-2 most likely has already existed in other countries such as France, India, Netherland, England and United States before the outbreak at Wuhan, China.

Automated summary

The COVID-19 virus was initially discovered in China, but cases were reported in other countries before being officially accepted by health authorities. Analysis of SARS-CoV-2 genomes suggests that the virus likely existed in countries like France, India, Netherlands, England, and the United States before the outbreak in Wuhan, China.