2 February 2022
Athina
By email: [FYI request #17972 email]
Dear Athina
Official Information Act Request Nucleic acid being test by PCR test
On 24 January 2022 you sent a request for information under the Official Information Act
1982 to the Ministry of Health, who partially transferred your request to ESR on 27 January
2022. The partial request transferred to ESR was as follows:
As the PCR test does not differentiate between covid variants, how many of the positive
PCR tests from 18th December 2021 were sent for genomic sequencing to determine that
the variant was Omicron. Also please advise me what organisations carry out the genomic
sequencing and provide me with the raw data that was used to determine this.
Our response to your request:
As the PCR test does not differentiate between covid variants, how many of the
positive PCR tests from 18th December 2021 were sent for genomic sequencing to
determine that the variant was Omicron.
Between 18 December 2021 and 26 January 2022, a total of 2,489 confirmed cases of
COVID-19 were reported. Of these, whole genome sequencing was performed for 1,580
(63.5%) cases. Of these 1,580 cases for whom whole genome sequencing was performed,
569 (36.0%) were confirmed to be of the Omicron variant.
It should be noted that whole genome sequencing may be attempted in the future for some
of the cases not yet sequenced (e.g., those reported in recent days). Furthermore, it is not
always possible to perform whole genome sequencing on all samples (for example, if the
case has a low viral load). The number presented above may be an underestimate of the
true number of cases of the Omicron variant.
Also please advise me what organisations carry out the genomic sequencing and
provide me with the raw data that was used to determine this.
ESR carries out the genomic sequencing and the raw data that is submitted to the global
initiative on sharing all influenza data (GISAID)
(https://gisaid.org/) as per the Ministry of
Health agreement.
The CoV-Spectrum website supports the identification of new SARS-CoV-2 variants of
concern and the tracking of known variants as well as providing a publicly accessible feed
for all data deposited on GISAID over time per country:
https://cov-spectrum.org/explore/New%20Zealand/AllSamples/Past6M
Your right to seek a review
You have the right to seek an investigation and review by the Ombudsman of this decision.
Information about how to make a complaint is available at www.ombudsman.parliament.nz
or freephone 0800 802 602.
Thank you for your request.
Yours sincerely
Jill Vintiner
Joint General Manager Health and Environment - Health ESR
