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In the section Seven Days in Medicine, there is an item on genomic sequencing which does not accurately represent the situation in the UK. Genomic surveillance is a key component of our approach to monitor and understand the SARS-CoV-2 virus. In the UK, we have invested to strengthen our genomics surveillance capabilities so that we can identify new variants that may be of public health concern. When we identify a new variant, we undertake rapid work to characterise it and understand any impact on the efficacy of our diagnostic tests and vaccines.
Since the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 virus and its global spread, the UK has shared 1.4 million genomes with the public health and scientific community globally through GISAID, NCBI and ENA. We have gradually increased our sequencing capacity with the weekly upload of sequences increasing from 20000 genomes per week in March 2021 to 64000 last week and the capacity is expected to reach 80000 by January 2022. In the UK, in total, we have sequenced 13.7% of all identified COVID-19 cases compared to 3.7% in USA. The percentage of PCR cases detected that has been sequenced varies each week with the incidence, and follows a robust surveillance framework to detect cases on importation, random surveillance in the community, surveillance of hospital laboratory testing, and finally, to support antiviral treatment. The total number of cases sequenced by Iceland to date is 9832 where in the UK we currently sequence over 60000 cases per day. Only 6 nations have sequenced over 100000 genomes, with UK contributing almost a quarter of the total GISAID genome content of 5.8 million. Globally, only the US has sequenced more than the UK.
The UK Health Security Agency is also supporting a number of other countries increase their own genomics capabilities and contributing to other global efforts to strengthen genomic surveillance.
Re: Seven days in medicine: 24-30 November 2021
Dear Editor,
In the section Seven Days in Medicine, there is an item on genomic sequencing which does not accurately represent the situation in the UK. Genomic surveillance is a key component of our approach to monitor and understand the SARS-CoV-2 virus. In the UK, we have invested to strengthen our genomics surveillance capabilities so that we can identify new variants that may be of public health concern. When we identify a new variant, we undertake rapid work to characterise it and understand any impact on the efficacy of our diagnostic tests and vaccines.
Since the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 virus and its global spread, the UK has shared 1.4 million genomes with the public health and scientific community globally through GISAID, NCBI and ENA. We have gradually increased our sequencing capacity with the weekly upload of sequences increasing from 20000 genomes per week in March 2021 to 64000 last week and the capacity is expected to reach 80000 by January 2022. In the UK, in total, we have sequenced 13.7% of all identified COVID-19 cases compared to 3.7% in USA. The percentage of PCR cases detected that has been sequenced varies each week with the incidence, and follows a robust surveillance framework to detect cases on importation, random surveillance in the community, surveillance of hospital laboratory testing, and finally, to support antiviral treatment. The total number of cases sequenced by Iceland to date is 9832 where in the UK we currently sequence over 60000 cases per day. Only 6 nations have sequenced over 100000 genomes, with UK contributing almost a quarter of the total GISAID genome content of 5.8 million. Globally, only the US has sequenced more than the UK.
The UK Health Security Agency is also supporting a number of other countries increase their own genomics capabilities and contributing to other global efforts to strengthen genomic surveillance.
Competing interests: No competing interests