DAVAO CITY, June 22 (PIA) – The Philippine Genome Center (PGC) – Mindanao along with six other partner sites in Mindanao are set to start the SARS-CoV-2 sequencing project this week in collaboration with the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) and the University of Glasgow.
PGC-Mindanao center director Dr. Lyre Anni Murao, guesting in One Davao Virtual Presser, announced that the first batch of sequencing will run for about a week after getting needed samples from the different regions in Mindanao.
“So far, three laboratories have already submitted samples and we are looking forward to receive other samples from other laboratories,” Dr. Murao said.
The PGC Mindanao is one of the seven sites tapped to participate in the genome sequencing.
“The importance on having this sequencing is for us here in Mindanao to identify the different variants that will give us an idea on what kind of virus do we have right now.”
When asked if the possible presence of new variants is the cause of the recent surge in Davao City and neighboring provinces in the region, she could not yet back up her answer with solid data as sequencing will only start this week.
Genome sequencing could identify if the virus now is more transmissible or can spread easily, or do they cause more severe diseases, or if they can still be addressed with the kind of existing vaccines that the country has procured.
The center director highlighted that sequencing, unlike contact tracing, produces more accurate and reliable results.
“Contact tracing may have gaps because the information gathered by the contact tracer may not be accurate or true. The beauty of sequencing, although similar kind of analysis is applied with contact tracing, actually doesn’t lie. It is accurate,” she added.
Meanwhile, the center official admitted that limitations for a fast and unhampered sequencing is being faced by PGC Mindanao.
The result of sequencing would rely on how soon their collaborators can submit samples. Another major factor that affects the project is the availability of re-agents.
“We have existing re-agents for this batch but we are still waiting for the delivery of re-agents that would come from outside the country.”
The PGC Mindanao head also clarified that results gathered by the center will be turned over to the RITM.
The latter will also hand over the result to the Department of Health (DOH) which has the authority to announce to the public whatever result of the sequencing and on the significance of the information gathered from the sequencing. (PIA XI/Frances Mae Macapagat)
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