AUTHOR=Zrelovs Nikita , Ustinova Monta , Silamikelis Ivars , Birzniece Liga , Megnis Kaspars , Rovite Vita , Freimane Lauma , Silamikele Laila , Ansone Laura , Pjalkovskis Janis , Fridmanis Davids , Vilne Baiba , Priedite Marta , Caica Anastasija , Gavars Mikus , Perminov Dmitry , Storozenko Jelena , Savicka Oksana , Dimina Elina , Dumpis Uga , Klovins Janis TITLE=First Report on the Latvian SARS-CoV-2 Isolate Genetic Diversity JOURNAL=Frontiers in Medicine VOLUME=8 YEAR=2021 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/medicine/articles/10.3389/fmed.2021.626000 DOI=10.3389/fmed.2021.626000 ISSN=2296-858X ABSTRACT=

Remaining a major healthcare concern with nearly 29 million confirmed cases worldwide at the time of writing, novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) has caused more than 920 thousand deaths since its outbreak in China, December 2019. First case of a person testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 infection within the territory of the Republic of Latvia was registered on 2nd of March 2020, 9 days prior to the pandemic declaration by WHO. Since then, more than 277,000 tests were carried out confirming a total of 1,464 cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the country as of 12th of September 2020. Rapidly reacting to the spread of the infection, an ongoing sequencing campaign was started mid-March in collaboration with the local testing laboratories, with an ultimate goal in sequencing as much local viral isolates as possible, resulting in first full-length SARS-CoV-2 isolate genome sequences from the Baltics region being made publicly available in early April. With 133 viral isolates representing ~9.1% of the total COVID-19 cases during the “first coronavirus wave” in the country (early March, 2020—mid-September, 2020) being completely sequenced as of today, here, we provide a first report on the genetic diversity of Latvian SARS-CoV-2 isolates.