More than a year has passed ever since the Covid pandemic has begun, and we are still not over this disease at all. One of the main reasons why the pandemic continued so long is due to the unstoppable mutations of the Covid virus. Therefore, the detection for a new Covid mutation is crucial for future issues. Technologists created various methods for identifying new forms of the virus using both AI (Artificial Intelligence) and conventional methods of virus detection.
Experts use genomic studies to detect mutations in the virus. Due to the deepening fatality of the disease and its variants, the WHO and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control had created a guideline for the technologists trying to detect variants of the Covid 19 virus. According to the WHO, the guideline for detecting mutations of the virus, which includes sequencing the genes of the virus, is crucial (Methods of). According to Gina Lee, an incorporation called Seegene in South Korea developed a testing kit that detects various mutants of Covid 19 (Lee). It is told to be able to detect the direct location on the gene in which mutation occurred (Lee). Meanwhile, there are some people who developed AI skills that enable much quicker ways to detect variations in the virus. According to Prashasti Awasthi Mumbai, a research team in California had succeeded in creating an AI which is also effective in enhancing the speed of finding the appropriate vaccine for the variant (Mumbai). Not only that, it allows the engineers to create new vaccines in a much shorter period of time, which enhances the probability of future immense pandemic decrease.
As such, many technologists are doing their best to overcome the pandemic by creating new technologies to detect changes in viruses.
By: Sohee Im