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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Ian Sample Science editor

Plans for UK ‘genomics transformation’ aim to act on lessons of Covid

Research assistants watch the sequencing machines analysing the genetic material of Covid-19 cases at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridgeshire in January 2022.
Research assistants watch the sequencing machines analysing the genetic material of Covid-19 cases at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridgeshire in January 2022. Photograph: Frank Augstein/AP

Health officials in the UK have drawn up plans for a “genomics transformation” that aims to detect and deal with outbreaks of infectious diseases faster and more effectively in the light of the Covid pandemic.

Information gleaned from the genetics of Covid proved crucial as the virus swept around the globe, revealing how the pathogen spread, evolved, and responded to a succession of vaccines and medicines developed to protect people.

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