Genomic sequencing effort for SARS-CoV-2 by country during the pandemic

Since the emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), tremendous efforts have been made to sequence the viral genome from samples collected throughout the world. Here, we evaluate how various countries have performed in sequencing from the perspectives of “fraction”, “...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International Journal of Infectious Diseases
Main Author: Yuki Furuse
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2021
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijid.2020.12.034
https://doaj.org/article/c1a0f81f13ae447ea061525f915223b4
Description
Summary:Since the emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), tremendous efforts have been made to sequence the viral genome from samples collected throughout the world. Here, we evaluate how various countries have performed in sequencing from the perspectives of “fraction”, “timeliness”, and “openness”. We found that high proportions of samples were sequenced in the UK, the USA, Australia, and Iceland; sequencing was performed promptly in Iceland, the Netherlands, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo; and data were shared timely from the Netherlands, the USA, Iceland, and the UK. Although many developing countries have high numbers of SARS-CoV-2 infected cases but few published sequences, we observed good performance on sequencing efforts for some low- and middle-income countries. Further strengthening of the sequencing capacity at a global level would help in the fight against not only the current pandemic but also future outbreaks of viral diseases.