ILOILO City – The Philippine Genome Center (PGC) satellite facility at the University of the Philippines (UP) Visayas – Miag-ao, Iloilo campus is now capable of sequencing the genome of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
“No one can predict mutations of a virus like SARS-CoV-2. We need genomic biosurveillance to help keep our health system ready for any possible new variants, and to track the behavior of existing ones,” said UP-PGC executive director Dr. Cynthia Saloma.
Early this year, UP-PGC Visayas started working with the Western Visayas Medical Center (WVMC) for the collection and viral RNA extraction of samples prior to sequencing.
UP-PGC Visayas has successfully sequenced more than 300 samples so far. It has submitted the results to the Department of Health – Epidemiology Bureau (DOH-EB) for analysis and endorsement to the Regional Epidemiology Surveillance Units (RESUs).
The RESUs, meantime, report the sequencing results to their respective local government units (LGUs) to put into place a well-planned strategy to mitigate the transmission of circulating variants in the concerned areas.
For her part, Undersecretary of Health for Public Health Services Maria Rosario Vergeire said this milestone of the UP-PGC Visayas is a big help in improving outbreak determination, monitor virus transmission, and streamline disease surveillance.
This, she added, helps protect the country from COVID-19 in particular and also improves health and disease surveillance in general for all Filipinos.
“We fervently hope that with all these efforts, the current pandemic will end soon, and that we will be better prepared for future outbreaks of any scale. Let us stay the course and continue to strengthen our health system so that we can live safely as we slowly transition to the new normal,” underscored Vergeire./PN
