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Coronavirus pandemic

Gamaleia Institute, Ministry of Health organizations join coronavirus genome database

According to Rospotrebnadzor, the biological material for genome sequencing comes from across the entire country, with the most data coming from Moscow, the Moscow Region, and St. Petersburg

© Russian Direct Investment Fund and Gamaleya Research Center/TASS

MOSCOW, June 29. /TASS/. The Gamaleia Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology, as well as scientific organizations of the Russian Ministry of Health, have joined the national coronavirus genome sequence database, Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing (Rospotrebnadzor) said on its website Tuesday.

"Currently, most scientific organizations that work on sequencing the SARS-CoV-2 have registered at the genome.crie.ru website and actively participate in updating the database. A total of 26 organizations have registered, 14 of them being Rospotrebnadzor scientific organizations. During the last week, the Russian Ministry of Health organizations and the Gamaleia Research Institute have also joined the program. The Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology is currently in the process of signing the agreement," the statement says.

According to Rospotrebnadzor, the biological material for genome sequencing comes from across the entire country. The volume of the material — and the corresponding research — correlates with the number of cases, which means the most data comes from Moscow, the Moscow Region, and St. Petersburg. Besides, the sequencing covers viruses found in the biological material of foreigners and Covid patients in severe condition.

The database was established by the Rospotrebnadzor Central Research Institute of Epidemiology in June.

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