Brazzaville – COVID-19 has had a catastrophic impact on lives and livelihoods. But it has also spurred impactful scientific research that gave the world a vaccine in record time and thrust genomic sequencing at the centre of pandemic response.

1. ScalingupgenomicsequencinginAfrica
Brazzaville –COVID-19has had a catastrophicimpacton livesandlivelihoods.Butithas alsospurred
impactful scientificresearchthatgave the worlda vaccine inrecord time andthrustgenomic
sequencingatthe centre of pandemicresponse.
The worldrapidlyidentifiedthe virusthatcausesCOVID-19anddevelopeddiagnostictestsandother
response toolsthankstogenomicsequencing,whichremainscrucial inmonitoringthe evolutionof
COVID-19and identifyingvariantsof concern.
In Africa,WorldHealthOrganization(WHO) isworkingwithcountriestoscale uppathogen
surveillance throughgenomesequencingtodetectandrespondeffectivelytoCOVID-19variants.In
2020, WHO and the AfricaCentre forDisease Control andPreventionestablishedaCOVID-19
sequencinglaboratorynetworkinAfricawhichhastodate producedover43 000 sequencingdata.
Currently,the WHORegional Office forAfricaiscollaboratingwiththe SouthAfricanNational
BioinformaticsInstitute(SANBI) tosetupthe Regional Centre of Excellence forGenomicSurveillance
and BioinformaticsinCape Town,SouthAfrica.WHOis providingtechnical supportaswell asover
US$ 4.5 millionforoperationsinthe SouthernAfricanDevelopmentCommunityregioninthe firstsix
months.The centre will initiallysupport14southerncountries,increasingtheirsequencingcapacity
by five-foldmonthlybefore expandingtoserve more countries.
“Genomicsequencingpavesaclearpath forus to track the COVID-19virus,monitormutationsthat
can leadto newvariantsandrespondeffectivelyandina timelymannertomore infectious
variants,”saysDr NicksyGumede-Moeletsi,RegionalVirologistwiththe WHORegional Office for
Africa.“The Regional Centre willallow countriestobe astepahead of the virus.”
WHO recommendsthatcountriesshipatleast5% of theirCOVID-19samplestoreference
sequencinglaboratoryorkeepproducingsequencingdataif theyhave the capacity.Currently,Africa
accounts forjust1% of the more than3,5 millionCOVID-19sequencescarriedouttodate
worldwide.
Since the SouthAfrica-basedRegional Centre’sbeganpreliminaryoperationsinJuly,genomic
sequencingactivitieshave quadrupledinSouthernAfrica.Inthe firsthalf of 2021, SouthernAfrican
countriessequenced5510 samplescomparedwithover24 000 currently.Thishashelpedcountries
detectthe presence andunderstandthe impactof variantsof concern,notablythe Deltavariant—
the most contagiousyetwhichisestimatedtobe 30%–60% more transmissible.
Africancountriesare alsomakingeffortstointegrate routine genomicsequencingandsurveillance
intothe national response since the beginningof the pandemic.SouthAfrica,forexample,detected
the more transmissible Betavariantof concerninDecember2020, helpingthe countrytoadjust
publichealthmeasures.
“Developingthe datamanagementoperationshasbeenessential torespondingtofuture disease
outbreaksbeyondCOVID-19.These dataoperationspointstothe needforthe Regional Centre to
strengthenneighbouringcountriestoensure local dataproductionanddata management,”saysDr
AlanChristoffels,Directorof the SouthAfricanNational BiodiversityInstitute whichispartof the
effortstostepup genomicsurveillance.
The Deltavariant,that partlypoweredAfrica’snow-subsidingpandemicthirdwave,hasbeen
detectedin39 Africancountries,whilethe AlphaandBetavariantshave beenreportedin45and

2. 40countriesrespectively.The Alphavarianthasbeendetectedin mostcountriesinNorth,Westand
Central Africa,while Betaismore widespreadinSouthernAfrica.
Genome sequencinghasthe potential torevolutionize publichealthandtransformresponsesto
othermajor healththreatsbeyondCOVID-19.Inthe past 20 years,ithas beenusedtosupportpublic
healthresponsesinAfricatoHIV,polio,measles,hepatitisBandC, chikungunya,dengue,zikaand
yellowfever.Expertsreckonithasthe potential todomuchmore.
“Routine geneticsurveillanceshouldbe apartof healthsystemsinAfrica.Buildingthisinfrastructure
mustbe a top priorityforcountriesgoingforward,”saysDrGumede-Moeletsi.