The public health laboratories that are part of the Communicable Disease Genomics Network (CDGN) have partnered with US genomic sequencing system vendor Illumina to set up a national COVID-19 tracking system.

The laboratories – including the Peter Doherty Institute in Melbourne, Westmead Hospital, UNSW at the Prince of Wales Hospital and Queensland Health Forensic and Scientific Services – aim to sequence the virus genomes of all positive COVID-19 tests in Australia and track COVID-19 using genomics on a national scale, rather than state by state.

The CDGN will use Illumina's next-generation genomic sequencing technology, which is due to be delivered next week to expand existing capacity.