Exercising the Sanger Sequencing Strategy for Variants Screening and Full-Length Genome of SARS-CoV-2 Virus during Alpha, Delta, and Omicron Outbreaks in Hiroshima.

This study aimed to exercise the Sanger sequencing strategy for screening of variants among confirmed COVID-19 cases and validate our strategy against NGS strains in Hiroshima retrieved from GISAID. A total of 660 samples from confirmed COVID-19 cases underwent screening for variants by Sanger-based partial sequencing to the targeted spike gene (nt22,735~nt23,532) using an in-house-developed primer set. The identification of variants was done by unique checkpoints of base nucleotide changes in the targeted spike gene.

Mass Screening of SARS-CoV-2 Variants using Sanger Sequencing Strategy in Hiroshima, Japan.

This study aimed to develop the feasible and effective universal screening strategy of the notable SARS-CoV-2 variants by Sanger Sequencing Strategy and then practically applied it for mass screening in Hiroshima, Japan. A total of 734 samples from COVID-19 confirmed cases in Hiroshima were screened for the notable SARS-CoV-2 variants (B.1.

The Association between Wearing a Mask and COVID-19.

With the widespread and increasing number of cases of Coronavirus Disease (2019) globally, countries have been taking preventive measures against this pandemic. However, there is no universal agreement across cultures on whether wearing face masks are an effective physical intervention against disease transmission. We investigated the relationship between mask wearing and COVID-19 among close contacts of COVID-19 patients in the Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan.