Correlation of COVID-19 Genome with Hypoxemia and Co-morbidities: Experimental Study

Background: The Covid-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc throughout the world, with 150 million cases to date and over 3 million lives claimed worldwide. Aim: To explore the hypoxemia in COVID-19 patients in relation with genomic mutation and co-morbidities. Study Design: Experimental Study. Methodology: A total of 16 COVID-19 positive patients admitted to Aziz Bhatti hospital were included in this study. COVID-19 was confirm through nasopharyngeal swab specimen diluted in normal saline subsequent RT-PCR was performed as per the standard operating procedure. Genome sequencing and interpretation of analysis was done through Illumina MiSeq. Results: There was statistically significant difference (P < 0.05) in SaO2 in patients with N (Nucleocapisd) protein mutation compared with NSP13( Helicase) mutation. Conclusion: It was concluded that mutation of N (Nucleocapisd) protein causes more pronounced hypoxia compared with Helicase mutation of COVID-19 genome. Keywords: COVID-19, Hypoxia, Mutation and Genome.