Background: Several SARS-CoV-2 variants with increased transmissibility and/or potential immune escape have emerged and rapidly spread worldwide. Ongoing surveillance analyses are performed worldwide to designate new variants of concern (VOC) of coronavirus. Main text: This report identifies the first Egyptian patient with a confirmed SARS-CoV-2 omicron variant. The patient showed positivity on reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction and full genome sequencing was performed to confirm the variant. The mutations found in the variant were compared with the GISAID reference strain hCoV-19/Wuhan/WIV04/2019. Genome BLAST showed the highest similarity to omicron variants isolated in South Africa. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that the variant belongs to the 21K clade. Conclusions: The study indicates the importance of information-sharing among global public health partners. Moreover the importance of implementation of full genome sequencing to rapidly identify and track the new SARS-CoV-2 variants.
CITATION STYLE
Ismail, G., Abdelghaffar, H., Seadawy, M. G., El-Hosseny, M. F., Gad, A. F., Ageez, A., … El-Ashry, M. abd E. R. (2022). Genome sequencing reveals existence of SARS-CoV-2 B.1.1.529 variant in Egypt. Journal of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, 20(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s43141-022-00352-1
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