Genome sequencing will help to develop vaccines and antiviral drugs to treat the disease. Photo/Taken from CubaSi.

MOSCOW, Russia.- Specialists from the Smorodintsev Institute for Influenza Research from the Russian Ministry of Health announced on Thursday that they sequenced the first complete genome of the new coronavirus, from the material of a sick patient.

The director of the Russian institute, Dmitry Lioznov, asserted that genetic analysis is of paramount importance in understanding the evolution of the new coronavirus, and the dynamics of its spread.

According to the statement, genome sequencing will assist in the development of vaccines and antiviral drugs to treat the disease, which has been classified by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a pandemic.

WHO and major global research groups use data obtained by the Russian researchers to monitor the global evolution of the new coronavirus that causes Covid-19 disease.