This represented a huge undertaking with researchers and clinicians working together across regions to simultaneously inform both the national advice provided by the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) and also essential rapid responses at the local public health level, including the monitoring of outbreaks in near real-time. The consortium comprised 17 academic and research institutions including QI, NHS organisations across the UK, all the UK Public Health Agencies, and UK Research and Innovation.
In March 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic first took hold, the UK Government made a substantial investment in the COVID-19 Genomics UK (COG-UK) consortium, a UK-wide public health surveillance initiative to generate and analyse large-scale SARS-CoV-2 sequencing datasets and map its occurrence and spread in the UK. Contributing to the UK national response to COVID-19Īlp Aydin loading COVID-19 sequencing samples. It can also help guide treatments in the future and see the impact of interventions.” Sir Patrick Vallance, Government Chief Scientific Adviser. “Genomic sequencing will help us understand COVID-19 and its spread. Their results have informed national strategy directly and helped safeguard public health in the UK and internationally. They have identified and tracked the emergence and spread of successive new variants of SARS-CoV-2, improving methodologies to provide results practically in near real-time. Through collaborative genomic surveillance, researchers at the Quadram Institute (QI) have been instrumental in supporting national and international responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Viral genome sequencing coupled with epidemiological data is the most effective way to achieve this. While only a small number of mutations are likely to change the virus sufficiently to affect infection rates or disease severity, rapid monitoring of virus evolution and population structure is essential for identifying new variants, understanding their transmission dynamics, and informing public health interventions and their impact, including vaccination. Indeed, many thousands of tiny mutations in SARS-CoV-2 have occurred globally since it first emerged in 2019. RNA viruses like SARS-CoV-2, which is responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic, all evolve over time through mutation.