In the first quarter of 2020, the researcher team trained eight different statistical models that predicted which kinds of animals could host betacoronaviruses. Over more than a year, the team then tracked discovery of 40 new bat hosts of betacoronaviruses to validate initial predictions and dynamically update their models. The researchers found that models harnessing data on bat ecology and evolution performed extremely well at predicting new hosts. In contrast, cutting-edge models from network science that used high-level mathematics--but less biological data--performed roughly as well or worse than expected at random.

When the Coronavirus first emerged in China, many scientists were unaware of its name and what it could do to the community. This is probably the biggest pandemic most of us have seen in our lifetime. In this regard, it becomes important to understand such threats can even come in the future. For this reason, several international scientists are using artificial intelligence-aided programs to predict which will be the next big threat like Coronavirus. In this way, the health system across the world can be prepared with better vaccines to prevent further pandemics.