In October and November 2020, a laboratory training on molecular SARS-CoV-2 diagnostics using PCR and Elisa, as well as mobile sequencing using MinION (Oxford Nanopore Technology) took place at Centre Muraz in Bobo Dioulasso in Burkina Faso, conducted by Essia Belarbi (P3/RKI) und Jasmin Schlotterbeck (FG37/RKI).

During the almost 5-week stay, they conducted a workshop on the basics of genome sequencing. Together with the Burkinabe team led by Dr. Arsene Zongo they tested sample material routinely collected from probands via ANDEMIA since the beginning of the 2019 pandemic and sequenced a total of 85 SARS CoV-2 positive samples, predominantly from the national coronavirus surveillance. During the stay, the sequence data generated was published as the first Burkinabe SARS CoV-2 sequences via “GISAID” which is an online database that enables the rapid publication and international exchange of genome data in outbreak situations.