Background: United Arab Emirates, has reported the first case of COVID-19 in January 2020 and by October 2022, a total of 1 Million cases and 2348 deaths due to COVID-19 have been reported. The Abu Dhabi Public Health Center, has led a novel initiative to conduct a large scale genomic surveillance project. The aim of this surveillance project is to generate data to guide public health pandemic response decision making.
Methods: Samples mainly from the community, points of entry to the emirate and healthcare facilities were collected for surveillance using both targeted PCR and/or Genome sequence analysis. Sample criteria were defined and specific metadata were collected in parallel. Using the unique identifiers and through the available datasets, epidemiological and clinical data were integrated.
Results: A total of 385,191 sample undertake analysis (from January 2021 to October 2022) either genotyping and/or sequence analysis. The most frequently encountered lineages in the community and among severe cases were reported.
Conclusions: Genomic surveillance is a major tool essential for guiding public health measures throughout the pandemic.
Keywords: Genetic Sequencing; Genomic epidemiology; SARS-CoV-2; Surveillance applications; Surveillance program; Surveillance strategies.
Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier B.V.