How and why scientists hope to track coronavirus

Scientists are to track the spread of the coronavirus in the UK by using clues in its genetic code - the blueprint for building a virus.

Analyzing samples collected from patients will also reveal whether the virus is mutating into new strains.

Sequencing the coronavirus's genetic code from different patients allows researchers to build up a picture of how the virus is spreading.

For example, a group of patients with nearly identical coronaviruses infecting them may all be part of the same cluster.

The same techniques, used at a hospital in Cambridge, were able to identify the source of an outbreak of the superbug MRSA.