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Enhancing epidemiological surveillance of the emergence of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant using spike gene target failure data, England, 15 November to 31 December 2021
- Paula B Blomquist1 , Jessica Bridgen1 , Neil Bray1 , Anne Marie O’Connell1 , Daniel West2 , Natalie Groves2 , Eileen Gallagher2 , Lara Utsi1 , Christopher I Jarvis1,3 , Jo L Hardstaff1 , Chloe Byers1 , Soeren Metelmann1 , David Simons1 , Asad Zaidi2 , Katherine A Twohig2 , Bethan Savagar1 , Alessandra Løchen1 , Cian Ryan1 , Katie Wrenn1 , María Saavedra-Campos1 , Zahidul Abedin1 , Isaac Florence2 , Paul Cleary1 , Richard Elson1,4 , Roberto Vivancos1,* , Iain R Lake1,4,*
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View Affiliations Hide AffiliationsAffiliations: 1 COVID-19 Outbreak Surveillance Team, UK Health Security Agency, London, United Kingdom 2 UK Health Security Agency, London, United Kingdom 3 London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom 4 School of Environmental Sciences, UEA, Norwich, United Kingdom* These authors contributed equally to this article as senior authorsCorrespondence:Iain R Lakei.lake uea.ac.uk
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Citation style for this article: Blomquist Paula B, Bridgen Jessica, Bray Neil, O’Connell Anne Marie, West Daniel, Groves Natalie, Gallagher Eileen, Utsi Lara, Jarvis Christopher I, Hardstaff Jo L, Byers Chloe, Metelmann Soeren, Simons David, Zaidi Asad, Twohig Katherine A, Savagar Bethan, Løchen Alessandra, Ryan Cian, Wrenn Katie, Saavedra-Campos María, Abedin Zahidul, Florence Isaac, Cleary Paul, Elson Richard, Vivancos Roberto, Lake Iain R. Enhancing epidemiological surveillance of the emergence of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant using spike gene target failure data, England, 15 November to 31 December 2021. Euro Surveill. 2022;27(11):pii=2200143. https://doi.org/10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2022.27.11.2200143 Received: 09 Feb 2022; Accepted: 17 Mar 2022
Abstract
When SARS-CoV-2 Omicron emerged in 2021, S gene target failure enabled differentiation between Omicron and the dominant Delta variant. In England, where S gene target surveillance (SGTS) was already established, this led to rapid identification (within ca 3 days of sample collection) of possible Omicron cases, alongside real-time surveillance and modelling of Omicron growth. SGTS was key to public health action (including case identification and incident management), and we share applied insights on how and when to use SGTS.
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