UAE backs research to lead fight against Covid-19

Four months after the coronavirus causing Covid-19 was first reported in Wuhan, China, and spread across the world, there is little information on its origins, the way it spreads and the long-term impact on human populations. The current focus of governments is to contain the spread of the virus through lockdowns and social distancing, but scientists are quietly working to understand the virus’s behavioural changes and ability to act differently in people, thanks to a method called genome sequencing. The genetic make-up of the virus could shed light on likely mutations as it spreads and causes damage to lives and economies. This pandemic is like no other the world has encountered in over a hundred years. The speed of its spread has surprised experts, but there are ways to stop it, through science. Politicians and decision-makers should listen more to doctors, virologists, and epidemiologists during this critical time to formulate the right course of action. Research must be supported and should continue even after this war is won.

This coronavirus has adapted well in different human populations across territories and has caused more than 100,000 deaths and two million infections. It doesn’t appear to be affected by the weather. Summer won’t kill it just yet. Policymakers should let science lead the way. This would help come up with the right vaccines and drugs to launching a counterattack. So when UAE scientists on Wednesday announced that they had sequenced the genome of the virus from a patient, it called for some celebration. This development could shed more light on the way the pathogen has infected people, the nature of the infection and the extent of the damage in the human body. This early success will also enable local researchers to probe further and understand what further damage the strain can cause and take evasive action.

Dubai’s Covid-19 Command and Control’s breakthrough comes at a time when cases in the country may have plateaued. The successful sequencing was done by researchers at the Mohammed Bin Rashid University of Medicine and Health Sciences. But this is just the beginning of a researchbased war on the virus. It will give UAE researchers the confidence to do more sequencing. Other countries have done the sequencing on infected people and some mutations may be unique to each country or populations. The genome of this coronavirus has 30,000 genetic bases or letters. China did the sequencing after the first outbreak in Wuhan and had informed the WHO of its findings. The US, South Korea, Japan, and India have broken into the genetic code of the virus. UAE researchers have spread the net wider and will work on samples from 240 patients who show different levels of severity of the disease. This could give them a deeper understanding of mutations exhibited by the virus and the likely effect on people. The results from these virological studies would come in handy for health systems to respond to future threats. This is a big first step for the UAE in the fightback against a common foe as it shores up defences against the disease.

Research must be supported and should continue even after this war is won. This coronavirus has adapted well in different human populations.