Kiyoshi Takahase Segundo / Alamy
Like any other biological entity, Sars-CoV-2 has a family tree. It is not a very old one – the virus has only been recognised since December – but it still has tales to tell.
Most of what we know about it comes from genetic analysis. The first complete Sars-CoV-2 genome sequence was read from a patient who worked at the Wuhan seafood market and was admitted to hospital on 26 December 2019. Known as Wuhan-Hu-1, it is a bit like the type specimen …