SARS-CoV-2 variant survey in Cameroon

Richard Njouom from the Centre Pasteur du Cameroun in Cameroon will establish a genomic surveillance network across the country to routinely track circulating SARS CoV-2 strains and identify novel variants for informing health authorities. They will use an existing national network of six COVID-19 molecular testing laboratories for collecting samples. Around 1,200 samples will be screened using a commercial SARS-CoV-2 mutation panel over the course of 12 months to identify existing viral variants-of-concern and variants-of-interest. They will also set up a sequencing platform to sequence the spike protein of the virus to identify new variants, as well as for generating 240 whole SARS CoV-2 genome sequences to monitor viral evolution and identify markers of disease severity or increased transmissibility. Policy briefs will be used to inform the health authorities of circulating variants.