France to reduce COVID-19 sequencing capacity despite EU calls to continue

France is set to reduce from next week its capacity to carry out sequencing of COVID-19 infections, just as the epidemic is soaring in China and the European Union asked member states to step up sequencing, France Inter radio said on Friday.

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From December 31, six out of the eight sequencing platforms that have been conducting COVID-19 surveillance for the French health ministry would stop doing so, France Inter said.

The health ministry did not immediately reply to a request for comment, but it told France Inter that the monitoring process would be lightened but that sequencing would still be carried out by a network of labs in France.

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