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According to the Minister of Health, Arūnas Dulkis, monitoring the sequencing of the COVID-19 genome will help to better detect the COVID-19 strains circulating in the country.
“The information received will allow the government to make the necessary and informed decisions about the management of the pandemic,” said the Ministry of Health (SAM).
Arno Strumilos / 15min nuotr./Vyriausybėje
The sequencing will take place as long as the COVID-19 epidemic in Lithuania continues, and the results of the study will be shared publicly.
SAM also reported how the sequencing study will be carried out.
To this end, PCR-positive COVID-19 samples will be selected, ensuring that at least two samples are obtained from each county and that the remaining number of samples is distributed according to the distribution of new cases in the counties.
“This process involves collecting samples from diagnostic laboratories and delivering them to sequencing laboratories, performing sample preparation, sequencing, bioinformatic analysis, and data interpretation, followed by information on the results to the government and the public,” the ministry said.
The Presidency’s Council of Health Experts recommended a large-scale study of the COVID-19 genome on November 16.
Lithuania has the necessary infrastructure for this, but so far the research has been on a small scale, only at the initiative of scientists.
The need to sequence the COVID-19 genome has been reinforced by the discovery in the UK of a UK-associated COVID-19 B.1.1.7 strain. This variant of the virus spreads faster.
COVID-19 genome sequence studies have previously been conducted on their own initiative by Vilnius University, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences and Santara Clinics. The researchers did not detect this variety.
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