Zahid Jadwat
As scientists around the world have been racing to find a cure for the coronavirus Covid-19, a group of South African scientists and researchers have contributed to the cause and have made a vital discovery.
A team from the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) and the South African National Bioinformatics Institute (SANBI) at the University of the Western Cape (UWC) have successfully sequenced South Africa’s first SARS-COV-2 genome.
A genome is the genetic material of an organism. The team of researchers was able to sequence the first SARS-COV-2 genome in South Africa, which will provide a genetic “fingerprint” that can help scientists understand and contain the spread of Covid-19, a highly contagious disease that has infected more than 1.3 million people and claimed the lives of more than 74 000 people across the globe.
“We now know and have the complete genetic sequence of the first virus [Covid-19] in South Africa,” said Professor Salim Safurdeen Abdool Karim, a South African epidemiologist, and infectious diseases expert.
Professor Karim was speaking to Salaamedia’s Azhar Vadi on The Alternative View this morning.
The work is a contribution to the global efforts to track and trace the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. As of the beginning of April, more than 3000 SARS-Cov-2 genomes were globally sequenced and uploaded to the Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data (GISAID) website.
“Of course the virus comes from Europe so it’s very similar to viruses from Europe,” said Professor Karim.
The first case in South Africa was imported from Italy, although the initial outbreak of Covid-19 began in the Chinese city of Wuhan.
According to Professor Karim, knowing the genetic sequence of the Coronavirus enables scientists to develop diagnostic tests and assists researchers in developing a vaccine.
Listen to the full discussion below:
Featured image from Google via Paris MoU.
