Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates: Abu Dhabi Public Health Centre, the region’s first dedicated centre protecting the physical, mental and social wellbeing of Abu Dhabi’s population by raising public and preventative healthcare awareness, successfully hosted a two-week-long workshop to train staff from regional National Influenza Centers in the sequencing and analysis of SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for the COVID-19.

The event which took place at Sheikh Khalifa Medical City (SKMC), part of the Abu Dhabi Health Services Company (SEHA), was held in partnership with the World Health Organization (WHO), the Ministry of Health (MoH), Abu Dhabi Public Health Center (ADPHC) and the WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean (EMRO), the event featured medical staff from Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Libya and Sudan.

During the workshop Dr Francis Selvaraj, Senior Research Scientist at SKMC, alongside Dr Antoine Aboufayad and Dr Rabeh Elshesheny from the WHO, trained attendees on the approved protocol for sequencing SARS-CoV-2 to determine the virus’ lineage and identify emerging mutations and new strains.

The DoH and ADPHC have been working with SKMC’s Surveillance Laboratory, which acts as the UAE’s National Influenza Centre, on a genomic surveillance project since the start of 2021. In partnership with the WHO the project has been sequencing samples from countries in the region that lack the necessary lab capacity while also monitoring circulating strains of SARS-CoV-2 within the UAE.

HE Dr. Farida Al Hosani, Executive Director of Infectious Diseases and Official Spokesperson for the UAE Health Sector, said: “Abu Dhabi Public Health Center has played a vital role in training regional laboratories on next generation sequencing aids. Virus genome sequencing is a powerful tool in the diagnosis of COVID-19 and in comprehending the spread and control of the novel mutated strains. Long-term this will enable public health authorities to improve precision, efficacy, and efficiency of public health decision-making responses. The workshop was a collaborative success, and I would like to extend my gratitude to all of the participants for attending. We continue working hand by hand to combat the pandemic.”

Dr Stefan Weber, acting Medical Director of the Reference Laboratory for Infectious Diseases, said: “The skill of sequencing is crucial to the current pandemic. Every participant has a high responsibility when they go back to their home countries in helping them to spread these skills.”

Dr Francis Selvaraj, Senior Research Scientist at SKMC, said: “SKMC is extremely proud to support the efforts of the WHO in helping regional labs tackle the pandemic with even greater efficiency. There is no denying that SARS-CoV-2 is rapidly mutating, with each variant starkly different in its speed of transmission. This workshop took a crucial step towards understanding the virus and will help the region towards public health decisions. The event was a resounding success and was quite a team effort – I would like to thank everyone who attended.”

Dr Amal Barakat, Technical Officer, Infectious Hazard Preparedness Unit Health Emergencies Programme, WHO EMRO, said: “The main objective of the workshop was to train and equip our region’s labs with next generation sequencing, especially related to SARS-CoV-2, as we battle the pandemic. Our aim was to understand how it spreads and infects and identify any new emerging strains. Our best chance in fighting the spread and emergence of new strains is to understand the strains present among us. I’d like to thank ADPHC for hosting this workshop and the participant countries for joining us. Fighting this pandemic is a team effort, which was represented by the willingness of regional medical teams to attend the workshop.”

Further, the workshop was organized by Dr Amal Barakat, Technical Officer, Infectious Hazard Preparedness Unit Health Emergencies Program, WHO EMRO, Dr. Stefan Weber, Consultant Microbiologist, and Sahar Ahmed Almarzooqi, Project Coordinator from SKMC.