Since the outset of COVID in Australia, the St Vincent’s Precinct has found itself at the centre of Sydney’s COVID response: Establishing the country’s first major community COVID testing site by SydPath; trialling several novel COVID treatments; driving outreach and vaccination programs for rough sleepers; initiating the formative long-Covid ADAPT study; introducing virtual monitoring technology for stvincent’s@home Covid patients.

As one of the state’s most recognised and respected health precincts, St Vincent’s researchers, clinicians and patients all played a prominent role in public health advocacy. Many of our specialists became the “go-to” subject matter authorities on a variety of COVID related issues and were featured extensively in media locally and internationally.

In recognition, in October 2021 St Vincent’s Hospital received the 2021 Business NSW City of Sydney award for the most outstanding community organisation.

And behind the scenes, Precinct researchers at the Garvan and Kirby Institutes collaborated to develop a COVID surveillance response building upon our learnings from long-established research, diagnostic testing and surveillance work with HIV and HCV (H2Seq) that has taken place in the Hospital and its MRIs since the 1980s.

Working collaboratively, these researchers have established and validated the most rapid coronavirus genome sequencing strategy in Australia leveraging the ‘Nanopore’ genome sequencing. The approach can rapidly screen infected patients for Variants of Concern, provide critical, timely clues on how cases of SARS-CoV-2 infection are linked and supports contact tracers to take rapid action. The technology is now used by NSW Health Pathology laboratories, and public health teams in Victoria and Queensland, with the Garvan team providing ongoing technical support.