Combined epidemiology and genetic sequencing surveillance in the era of COVID-19 pandemic; Abu Dhabi experience, United Arab Emirates.

Background: United Arab Emirates, has reported the first case of COVID-19 in January 2020 and by October 2022, a total of 1 Million cases and 2348 deaths due to COVID-19 have been reported. The Abu Dhabi Public Health Center, has led a novel initiative to conduct a large scale genomic surveillance project. The aim of this surveillance project is to generate data to guide public health pandemic response decision making.