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This technical report provides guidance to laboratories, microbiology experts and relevant stakeholders in making decisions on establishing or scaling up capability and capacity to detect and identify circulating SARS-CoV-2 variants. It will also facilitate decision-making on the appropriate technologies to use and for which objective.

This report presents the results of the 11th round of the external quality assessment (EQA-11) scheme for typing of Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica organised for the national public health national reference laboratories (NPHRLs) in ECDC’s Food- and Waterborne Diseases and Zoonoses network (FWD-Net) managed by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). The EQA-11 scheme was arranged by the Section for Foodborne Infections at the Statens Serum Institut (SSI) in Denmark.

Rapid risk/outbreaks assessment aim at supporting the countries and the European Commission in their preparedness and response to a public health threat. They provide a timely summary and risk assessment of a public health threat for EU/EEA countries related to a specific event. They also include potential options for response. As outbreaks or public health events develop, ECDC may issue updated risk assessments.

This report presents the results of the seventh round of the external quality assessment (EQA-7) scheme for Listeria monocytogenes (L. monocytogenes) typing organised for national public health reference laboratories (NPHRLs) providing data to the Food- and Waterborne Diseases and Zoonoses Network (FWD-Net) managed by ECDC.

This report presents the objectives, methods, results, and conclusions of a collaborative study called the 'European Listeria Typing Exercise’ (ELiTE), as well as recommendations for further studies.

Between May 2018 and December 2020, 193 human cases of Salmonella Enteritidis sequence type (ST)11 were reported in Denmark (2), Finland (4), France (33), Germany (6), Ireland (12), the Netherlands (3), Poland (5), Sweden (6), and the United Kingdom (UK) (122). One in five cases was hospitalised. One death was reported. Fifty percent of the cases were children ≤ 18 years. The most recent case was reported by the UK in December 2020.

This technical guidance aims to provide guidelines to laboratories and relevant stakeholders in the European Union (EU), European Economic Area (EEA) and other countries in the WHO European region in making decisions on establishing sequencing capacities and capabilities, in making decisions on which technologies to use and/or in deciding on the role of sequencing for SARS-CoV-2 diagnostics, research, outbreak investigations and surveillance.