Canadian researchers are making advances in tracking the trajectory of viral illnesses, like the emergent coronavirus. From global flight patterns to learning the names of individual patients, scientists say they have more ways to monitor infectious diseases than ever before. These insights are drawn from new data-driven technologies, improved communication across public-health agencies and increased transparency in reporting infections. Kamran Khan, the founder and CEO of BlueDot, says his medical analytics company has been monitoring the virus since first detecting signs of an outbreak on Dec. 31. BlueDot's AI-powered system analyzes data, such as airline ticket sales and online news reports, to map how viruses spread through the global transportation network. The system then predicts regions that are at the highest risk of an outbreak BlueDot shares information with its clients across the private and public sector on the latest developments as an epidemic evolves, so they can co-ordinate their response. Khan, who is also a Toronto doctor that specializes in infectious disease, admits that every prediction comes with some degree of uncertainty. Yoav Keynan, the scientific lead at the National Collaborating Centre for Infectious Diseases, says laboratory networks across are working to make sure tests are available wherever cases may crop up. Kenyan says Canada has taken steps to improve communication between provincial, federal and global public-health agencies. Researchers are still piecing together the scale of the coronavirus outbreak, and how efficiently the virus is transmitted from person to person.