TO strengthen efforts in detecting emerging Covid variants and mutations in the country that may have significant public health implications, a P100-million budget is needed to be able to conduct genome sequencing in satellite facilities in Visayas and Mindanao, a health official said on Tuesday.
In an online Kapihan Session of the Department of Health (DOH), Dr. Cynthia Saloma of the University of the Philippines-Philippine Genome Center (PGC) said that each facility would be needing a P50-million annual budget.
“[We need] P50 million each lab to [be] able to sequence 50 to 100 samples a week,” Saloma said, stressing that this is the “fastest and cheapest way” to conduct genome sequencing in Visayas and Mindanao.
The PGC satellite office is located at UP-Visayas Regional Research Center while its Mindanao counterpart can be found in the yet-to-be-constructed Research, Development and Extension Building of UP Mindanao. Aside from research, the two offices are training personnel for RT-PCR testing.
As to the funding, Saloma said, they welcome any donations to make the plan to conduct genome sequencing in Visayas and Mindanao possible.
Currently, the samples collected across the country are being sent to PGC for sequencing. The PGC is sequencing samples in batches of at least 750 per week.
For her part, Executive Director of the University of the Philippines Manila-National Institutes of Health (UP-NIH) Dr. Eva Maria Cutiongco- Dela Paz said they aim to increase the number of active cases sampled for sequencing.
According to Saloma, the ideal target is to sequence 5 percent of the total Covid-19 cases.
However, Cutiongco-de La Paz said that their aim is for a “faster turnaround time.” From January to July, she said that the country has sequenced 9,351 samples of the 1.8 million cases.
Meanwhile, Dr. Alethea de Guzman, Epidemiology Bureau Director of the DOH, said they also wanted to test samples from areas without spikes in infections.
Earlier, Health Secretary Francisco T. Duque III said they will strengthen the government’s genomic biosurveillance efforts by putting up facilities in Visayas and Mindanao.
“Oo naman! ating pinaghahandaan ‘yan [Yes, of course! We are preparing for that],” Duque then said when asked if putting up facilities in areas of Visayas in Mindanao to expand sequencing of samples is part of the government’s current plan.
Duque said that they were even given an additional P362- million budget for genomic biosurveillance.
However, Duque said one of the problems they face right now is lack of reagents. He said that other countries are also intensifying their sequencing efforts of samples positive from Covid-19.