Very nice concept. It reminds me of Conway's game of life and it seems to be influenced by it.
It wasn't at first obvious what I'm supposed to be doing, but I soon found out.
If I understood correctly, the virus is the ending factor.
When I'd get a virus, I'd isolate it in water fast to stop the spread (I assumed it spreads to adjacent tiles). Not sure if there's a way to destroy it tho.
Fun game. I really like those automaton simulators.