How genetic sequencing is helping scientists find the next Covid variant | Manon Ragonnet-Cronin

The new Global Pandemic Radar is a welcome step towards comprehensive sequencing of the Covid-19 genome

Nun's office Tivoli safe!" When I was a child, we used to play a game where several of us whispered a message to one another in sequence. The fun of the game is when errors pop up along the way - and the final listener announces with glee something quite different from the original message.

As Covid-19 spreads through a population, it undergoes similar changes, or mutations". Every time a new virus is built, errors are made when its genome is copied, just like with the whispered message. This has led to Covid-19 variants popping up all over the globe: in the UK, Brazil, the US and now India. Detecting these variants and monitoring their spread is crucial to protect people from being put at risk, and helps inform public health decisions. Which is why we so enthusiastically welcome the news of the Global Pandemic Radar, a pathogen surveillance network that will track developments in the Covid-19 virus. It will also ensure a global infrastructure is in place to better help humanity understand and protect itself from future pathogens.