Rapid Response to SARS-CoV-2 in Aotearoa New Zealand: Implementation of a Diagnostic Test and Characterization of the First COVID-19 Cases in the South Island
It has been 20 months since we first heard of SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus detected in the Hubei province, China, in December 2019, responsible for the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, a myriad of studies aimed at understanding and controlling SARS-CoV-2 have been published at a pace that...
Guardado en:
| Autores principales: | , , , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Formato: | article |
| Lenguaje: | EN |
| Publicado: |
MDPI AG
2021
|
| Materias: | |
| Acceso en línea: | https://doaj.org/article/e924a726be34468da8ff531e79a3abee |
| Etiquetas: |
Agregar Etiqueta
Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!
|
| Sumario: | It has been 20 months since we first heard of SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus detected in the Hubei province, China, in December 2019, responsible for the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, a myriad of studies aimed at understanding and controlling SARS-CoV-2 have been published at a pace that has outshined the original effort to combat HIV during the beginning of the AIDS epidemic. This massive response started by developing strategies to not only diagnose individual SARS-CoV-2 infections but to monitor the transmission, evolution, and global spread of this new virus. We currently have hundreds of commercial diagnostic tests; however, that was not the case in early 2020, when just a handful of protocols were available, and few whole-genome SARS-CoV-2 sequences had been described. It was mid-January 2020 when several District Health Boards across New Zealand started planning the implementation of diagnostic testing for this emerging virus. Here, we describe our experience implementing a molecular test to detect SARS-CoV-2 infection, adapting the RT-qPCR assay to be used in a random-access platform (Hologic Panther Fusion<sup>®</sup> System) in a clinical laboratory, and characterizing the first whole-genome SARS-CoV-2 sequences obtained in the South Island, right at the beginning of the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak in New Zealand. We expect that this work will help us and others prepare for the unequivocal risk of similar viral outbreaks in the future. |
|---|