The consortium will include the NHS, Public Health Agencies, genomes and data centre Wellcome Sanger Institute, and other academic institutions.
The aim of the alliance, which was announced by the UK government and the country’s Chief Scientific Adviser, will be to understand and control the new coronavirus infection (COVID-19).
The collaboration between expert groups in the country will whole genome sequence and analyse the genetic code of COVID-19 samples across the country. As a result, the consortium will give a unique, cutting-edge tool to public health agencies and clinicians to fight the virus.
Samples collected from coronavirus infected patients will be sent to a network of sequencing centres, which currently include Belfast, Birmingham, Cambridge, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Liverpool, Exeter, Glasgow, London, Oxford, Norwich, Nottingham, and Sheffield.
The director of the COVID-19 Genomics UK Consortium will be Sharon Peacock, who is chair of public health and microbiology at the University of Cambridge and also Public Health England National Infection Service Director.
Sharon Peacock said: “This virus is one of the biggest threats our nation has faced in recent times and crucial to helping us fight it is understanding how it is spreading.
“Harnessing innovative genome technologies will help us tease apart the complex picture of coronavirus spread in the UK, and rapidly evaluate ways to reduce the impact of this disease on our society.”
The genetic code is the blueprint for building a virus. This subtly changes as the virus mutates. Much of the time these coronavirus mutations are relatively unspectacular, but this is a virus that has already made the giant leap from animals to humans and killed over 14,000 people worldwide.
Scientists, by looking at the complete virus genome in affected people, can track changes in the virus to determine how the coronavirus is spreading and if different strains are emerging. Viruses will accumulate mutations which can allow them to evade immune responses, and this is the greatest challenge to those planning our response to this novel virus.
What we know
Coronaviruses are a group of viruses that cause diseases in mammals and birds, and respiratory tract infections in humans.
The current coronavirus outbreak, recently declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO), is caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. This virus has been shown to have a close Genetic similarity to bat coronaviruses, which are thought to have been the likely origin. The outbreak was first identified in Wuhan, Hubei province, China in December 2019.
COVID-19 appears to spread in a similar way to cold and flu bugs, with transmission primarily occurring through respiratory droplets from coughs and sneezes within a range of under 2 metres. Indirect contact on untreated surfaces is also another likely cause of infection. At present, whilst COVID-19 appears to be more contagious than SARS or MERS, the fatality rate is relatively low (around 3%) when compared with MERS (34%) and SARS (10%), with early data suggesting the elderly and those with underlying Health conditions are at a higher risk.
UK Business Secretary Alok Sharma said: “At a critical moment in history, this new consortium will bring together the UK’s brightest and best scientists to build our understanding of this pandemic, tackle the disease and ultimately, save lives.
“As a Government we are working tirelessly to do all we can to fight COVID-19 to protect as many lives and save as many jobs as possible.” Sorry, there are no polls available at the moment.”