France
COMETE Network acquires capacity to detect B1.617 “Indian variant” of Covid-19 in wastewater
As part of the management of the current public health crisis, France’s COMETE Network, co-founded by the Bataillon de Marins Pompiers de Marseille (BMPM), commanded by Counter Admiral Patrick Augier, and the OpenHealth Company, chaired by Dr. Patrick Guerin, has announced that it is able – thanks to its scientific and industrial partnership with biotechnology laboratory Biosellal - to detect the new E484Q (then L452R) mutations, markers of the "Indian variant", as part of its environmental monitoring system currently being deployed on French territory.
The COMETE Network aims to support municipalities, departments, and regions in their monitoring of the COVID-19 pandemic and to share the operational and scientific techniques developed by the Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear and Explosives unit (CBRNE unit) and partner laboratories, in order to remain one step ahead in the battle against the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The scientific partnerships initiated several months ago within the COMETE Network make it possible to respond promptly to the virus’s evolution.
According to Dr. Patrick Guerin: "It is by organising the deployment of our operational, technological and industrial know-how that we will reinforce our crisis management capacities. The teams from Biosellal and the CBRN unit of the BMPM have been working for many weeks to adapt the variant screening methods already in use. The COMETE Network is now supported by partners with unique and efficient R&D capacities adapted to the monitoring of SARS-CoV-2 mutations”.
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