Human history has been shaped by the heavy burden of infectious disease pandemics. Yet, despite the bitter lessons learned from history, even those in living memory such as the 1918 influenza pandemic and HIV/AIDS epidemic, COVID-19 stands unique in the sudden, immense health and economic impacts to the global human population. While the costs have been great, and the long-term consequences are still being revealed, the urgent need for action has also brought forward rapid developments and innovations to combat COVID-19 and better prepare us for future infectious disease outbreaks. One such area has been the widespread adoption of whole genome sequencing to inform public health responses. Genome sequencing during the COVID-19 pandemic has become key to tracking the spread of SARS-CoV-2 at all scales, to such a degree that terms such as genomics, mutations, variants and clusters are now common vernacular to politicians, health officials and the general public. This article provides a commentary on the genesis and evolution of SARS-CoV-2 genome sequencing, and its critical on-going role in the public health response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

人类历史受到传染病大流行的沉重负担的影响。然而，尽管从历史中汲取了惨痛的教训，即使是那些记忆犹新的东西，例如1918年的流感大流行和艾滋病毒/艾滋病的流行，COVID-19在对全球人口的突然，巨大的健康和经济影响方面也独树一帜。尽管付出了沉重的代价，并且长期后果仍在显现，但迫切需要采取的行动也提出了快速发展和创新，以对抗COVID-19，并为未来的传染病暴发做好了更好的准备。其中之一就是广泛采用全基因组测序来告知公众健康对策。COVID-19大流行期间的基因组测序已成为追踪SARS-CoV-2在所有规模上的扩散的关键，其程度达到了诸如基因组学，如今，突变，变异和聚类对于政客，卫生官员和公众来说是普遍的话。本文提供了有关SARS-CoV-2基因组测序的起源和进化及其在公共卫生应对COVID-19大流行中的关键持续作用的评论。