SARS-CoV-2 becoming more infectious as revealed by algebraic topology and deep learning.

Abstract

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) caused by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has led to a tremendous human fatality and economic loss. SARS-CoV-2 infectivity is a key reason for the widespread viral transmission, but its rigorous experimental measurement is essentially impossible due to the ongoing genome evolution around the world. We show that artificial intelligence (AI) and algebraic topology (AT) offer an accurate and efficient alternative to the experimental determination of viral infectivity. AI and AT analysis indicates that the on-going mutations make SARS-CoV-2 more infectious.