Genome Sequencing - Changing the Pandemic Dynamics

Abstract

One single test that has completely changed the curve of the COVID-19 pandemic is the genome sequencing. Most commonly used vaccines during the pandemic such as mRNA vaccines from Pfizer and vector-based vaccine from serum institute of India could be developed in record time because of the availability of viral genome which was decoded as early as January 11, 2020, even before the pandemic had spread too many parts of the world. Sequencing has allowed COVID-19 to be the first virus whose spread is being monitored in real-time and on a global scale. During the pandemic, repeated viral gene sequencing helped detect new variants and analyze their origin and behavior.

Keywords

• covid-19
• genome sequencing
• indian sars-cov-2 genomics consortium
• next generation sequencing