WHO concerned as global sequencing reports decline by 90%

MANILA, August 21 ------ The World Health Organization has warned that a global decline in genome sequencing, a surveillance measure against the COVID-19 pandemic, is "making it so much harder to understand how the virus" could be mutating.

Sequencing enabled the world to rapidly identify SARS-CoV-2 and develop diagnostic tests and other tools for outbreak management, according to the WHO. But the number of sequences shared per week has fallen by 90 percent since the beginning of the year, WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus said late. "The number of countries sharing sequences has dropped by 75 percent, making it so much harder to understand how the virus might be changing," he said during a WHO briefing. "With colder weather approaching in the northern hemisphere and people spending more time indoors, the risks for more intense transmission and hospitalization will only increase in the coming months – not only for COVID-19, but for other diseases including influenza."

The United Nations agency also noted an increase in COVID-19 deaths over the past 4 weeks, with 15,000 fatalities reported around the world in the recent week. "Fifteen thousand deaths a week is completely unacceptable when we have all the tools to prevent infections and save lives," Tedros said. "We’re all tired of this virus, and tired of the pandemic. But the virus is not tired of us."

Source: news.abs-cbn.com