International Livestock Research Institute scientists support Kenyan government to identify SARS-CoV-2 variants

In the Nairobi laboratories of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), the organization’s scientists continue to contribute to the fight against COVID-19.

Since mid-2020, ILRI—a CGIAR research centre—has been supporting Kenya’s Ministry of Health to process COVID-19 tests. Now, following a request from the Kenyan government, the institute’s labs, equipment and expert staff will be put to work sequencing the entire genome of SARS-CoV-2 circulating in Kenya—the virus that causes COVID-19—and monitoring the different variants that emerge in Kenya’s population or arrive from outside its borders.

This ‘genomic surveillance’ will provide important information about which strains of the virus make people sicker, or are more easily transmitted—and in the long term, help ensure the right vaccines and diagnostic tests are used.