A team of Palestinian researchers, consisting of Dr. Suheir Ereqat and Dr. Abdel Majeed Nassereddin from Al-Quds University and Dr. Amer Al-Jawabreh from the Arab American university-Jenin, describe the complete genome sequence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) strains isolated from nasopharyngeal swab obtained from two patients with COVID-19 who were infected inJericho – Palestine.
The whole genome sequences were deposited in the Gen Bank under accession numbers of MW301192 and MW281864.
It is reported that the genome size is 29871 bp. The sequencing was done by Next Generation Sequencing. The study objectives include identifying the circulating strains in Palestine and compare them with the strains circulating in neighboring countries such as Jordan, Egypt, Turkey and Lebanon, and also with other global strains from China, Europe and the US with special focus on identifying the genes associated with the severity of the disease (Virulence genes)
Thanks go to Al-Quds University for its support and big thanks to Dr. Elham Kateeb, Dean of the Scientific Research for her contribution to the development of the research staff at Al-Quds University.
