MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health (DOH) explained on Thursday that the process of subjecting COVID-19 positive samples to genome sequencing takes time so that results on whether collected specimens are positive for new variants are not immediately released.
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the public should understand that there is a turnaround period between COVID-19 testing, sequencing, and the publishing of the full genome sequencing results.
“Samples are carefully selected to provide the best yield of the sequencing efforts. Thus, not all RT-PCR (reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction) positive samples qualify for WGS (whole genome seque…
Keep on reading: Genome sequencing for COVID-19 positive samples takes time