UK among nations now sharing less data on Covid variants with rest of world, analysis shows

US and UK have submitted up to 53 per cent fewer genome sequences to Gisaid, the global variant database, since January

(Getty Images)

A number of countries – including the UK – that have led the way in tracking the evolution of Covid are now sharing less data on new variants with the rest of the world.

In the case of Britain, the US, France, Canada and Norway, up to 53 per cent fewer genome sequences have been uploaded to Gisaid – the global variant database – since the beginning of the year, analysis shows.

The online depository has allowed scientists to identify and track emerging clusters of new strains, as seen with the recent Omicron sub-variants. Since the beginning of the pandemic, millions of sequences have been shared with the platform from countries across the globe.