“FOCUSED CONTRIBUTION”
Should regional efforts stall during an emergency, Singapore could make a “focused contribution” together with its partners, Mr Ong said.
He outlined several areas, one being a vigilant global surveillance system that detects dangerous pathogens early, which rests on platforms where scientists and governments are willing to share data willingly and quickly.
Singapore already works closely with GISAID, a leading international repository of genomic data for SARS-CoV-2, mpox and influenza viruses.
Mr Ong highlighted how Singapore’s National Public Health Laboratory, in late July, detected a recombinant form of SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, through routine genomic surveillance.
At the time of assessment, it was the only such sequence detected in Singapore, with no closely matching sequence identified in GISAID’s database.
Mr Ong noted that the patient had mild illness and recovered, and no further local cases were detected, while the sequence was submitted on the GISAID platform for global analysis.
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