Preprint Article Version 1 Preserved in Portico This version is not peer-reviewed

Genomic analysis and tracking of SARS-CoV-2 variants in Gwangju, South Korea from 2020 to 2022

Yeong-Un Lee
ORCID logo ,
Kwangho Lee
,
Hongsu Lee
,
Jung wook Park
,
Sun-Ju Cho
,
Ji-Su Park
,
Jeongeun Mun
,
Sujung Park
,
Cheong-mi Lee
,
Juhye Lee
,
Mihee Seo
,
Eunju Kim
,
Jinjong Seo
,
Yonghwan Kim
,
Sun-Hee Kim
* ORCID logo ,
Yoon-Seok Chung
* ORCID logo
Version 1 : Received: 19 October 2023 / Approved: 19 October 2023 / Online: 19 October 2023 (11:25:35 CEST)

How to cite: Lee, Y.; Lee, K.; Lee, H.; Park, J.W.; Cho, S.; Park, J.; Mun, J.; Park, S.; Lee, C.; Lee, J.; Seo, M.; Kim, E.; Seo, J.; Kim, Y.; Kim, S.; Chung, Y. Genomic analysis and tracking of SARS-CoV-2 variants in Gwangju, South Korea from 2020 to 2022. Preprints 2023, 2023101276. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202310.1276.v1 Lee, Y.; Lee, K.; Lee, H.; Park, J.W.; Cho, S.; Park, J.; Mun, J.; Park, S.; Lee, C.; Lee, J.; Seo, M.; Kim, E.; Seo, J.; Kim, Y.; Kim, S.; Chung, Y. Genomic analysis and tracking of SARS-CoV-2 variants in Gwangju, South Korea from 2020 to 2022. Preprints 2023, 2023101276. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202310.1276.v1

Abstract

Since severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was first reported in Wuhan, China in December 2019, it has spread rapidly, and many coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases have occurred in Gwangju, South Korea. Viral mutations following the COVID-19 epidemic have increased interest in the characteristics of epidemics in this region, and pathogen genetic analysis is required for infection control and prevention. In this study, SARS-CoV-2 whole-genome analysis was performed on samples from patients with COVID-19 in Gwangju from 2020 to 2022 to identify the trends in COVID-19 prevalence and to analyze the phylogenetic tree of dominant variants. B.41 and B.1.497 prevailed in 2020, the early stage of the COVID-19 outbreak; then, B.1.619.1 mainly occurred until June 2021. B.1.617.2, classified as sublineage AY.69 and AY.122, occurred continuously from July to December 2021. Since strict measures to strengthen national quarantine management had been implemented in South Korea until this time, mutations phylogenetic analysis was also able to infer the epidemiological relationship between infection transmission routes. Since the first identification of the Omicron variant in late December 2021, the spread of infection has been very rapid, and weekly whole-genome analysis of specimens has enabled us to monitor new Omicron sublineage occurring in Gwangju. Our study suggests that conducting reginal surveillance in addition to nation-level genomic surveillance will enable more rapid and detailed variant surveillance, which will be helpful in the overall prevention and management of infectious diseases.

Keywords

COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; whole-genome sequencing; variants; lineages

Subject

Biology and Life Sciences, Virology

Copyright: This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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