What is Genomic Surveillance?

It’s important to identify and track variants of SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) to promptly inform public health planning and practice. A robust genomic surveillance program can help inform public health planning and practice. But what is genomic surveillance? The same way a smoke alarm helps firefighters know where a fire is breaking out, genomic surveillance helps public health officials see which coronavirus variants are popping up where. Labs sequence the genome in coronavirus samples taken from patients' COVID-19 tests. Then scientists are able to tell from the virus's genome which coronavirus variant infected the patient. By sequencing enough coronavirus genomes, scientists are able to build up a representative picture of which variants are circulating in the population overall. Genomic surveillance can inform decisions about the right countermeasures – helping to control and put out the fire before it spreads.