Genomic insights into early SARS-CoV-2 strains isolated in Reunion Island

The relative isolation of many island communities provides some protection from the COVID-19 pandemic, as imported cases can be limited and traced effectively. Until recently, this was true for the population of the French overseas department, Reunion Island, where only limited numbers of autochthonous cases were observed prior to August 2020. Since the report of the first case of COVID-19, contact tracing has been carried out for each new case identified in Reunion Island to identify transmission and clusters.

To contribute to the public health response and understand the diffusion of SARS-Cov-2 strains in Reunion Island, we established in-house genome sequencing capability in Reunion using Oxford nanopore technology (MinION) as an inexpensive option for genomic typing of SARS-CoV-2 lineages on the island, and cross-validated typing results between viral isolation methods and different sequencing technologies. The results of our work during the early phase of the epidemics are presented herein.