UK to offer genomics resources for global Covid fight

FILE PHOTO: People wearing face masks walk in St James’s Park amid the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) outbreak, in London, Britain January 22, 2021. REUTERS/John Sibley

LONDON — Britain will offer its genomics expertise to countries lacking resources to identify new variants of the virus that causes Covid-19, the government announced Tuesday.

“This pandemic has shown that the foundations of so many of the exciting experiences that make life worth living are contingent not just on our health, or the health of our neighbors, but the health of people we’ve never met,” said Health Secretary Matt Hancock.

“When one of us suffers, we all suffer. So we must work to promote health security in every single part of the world,” he told a virtual meeting of the Chatham House international affairs think-tank.

Britain hopes to use its presidency of the G7 this year to push for a “more collaborative and effective global health system” to ensure the international community is better prepared against future threats.

“Concrete progress must be made and it must be based on enlightenment values of collaboration, and transparency and scientific progress,” said Hancock, urging against protectionism.

Britain will offer resources to help countries analyze new strains through the “New Variant Assessment Platform”, which will be led by Public Health England in partnership with the World Health Organization’s (WHO) SARS-CoV-2 Global Laboratory Working Group.

British laboratories will work directly on samples sent from abroad or will provide “expert advice and support remotely” where needed.

“Many countries do not have the capacity they need,” Hancock told Chatham House.

Countries will apply for help through the WHO.

Britain has carried out more than half of all SARS-CoV-2 genome sequences submitted to the global database, and its scientists identified the variant currently rampant across the country.

Hancock also said it was his “personal mission” to convince other countries to agree to a standardized system for clinical trials so that vaccines and medicines can be rolled out around the world if they are approved in one country.

“We must do what it takes to standardize and coordinate clinical trials to find more insights more quickly than the fragmented system that has existed until now,” he said.

He also called for a similar system to apply to the use of technology and artificial intelligence to “unlock the power of the data that fuels them”.

“We are in a war against this virus and the whole of humanity is on the same side. Now is the time to make that count,” he said.

/MUF