diff --git a/Snakefile b/Snakefile
index ccbfe05..7aac42b 100644
--- a/Snakefile
+++ b/Snakefile
@@ -15,6 +15,10 @@ OUT = config["output_dir"]
 # iget collection and save to a path passed to cli
 PREVIOUS_CLUSTERING = config["previous_clustering"]
 
+if PREVIOUS_CLUSTERING == "None":
+    Path(OUT).mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
+    Path(OUT + "/previous_list_excluded_samples.txt").touch()
+
 # Configure pipeline outputs
 expected_outputs = []
 
@@ -30,6 +34,8 @@ elif config["clustering_type"] == "mlst":
 localrules:
     all,
     copy_assemblies_to_temp,
+    copy_or_touch_list_excluded_samples,
+    touch_list_excluded_samples,
 
 
 include: "workflow/rules/combine_snp_profiles.smk"
diff --git a/config/presets.yaml b/config/presets.yaml
index 908388c..e30d037 100644
--- a/config/presets.yaml
+++ b/config/presets.yaml
@@ -3,8 +3,12 @@ mycobacterium_tuberculosis:
   max_distance: 200
   clustering_type: "alignment"
   N_content_threshold: 0.5
+  coverage_threshold: 20
+  inclusion_pattern: "^NLA[a-zA-Z0-9]+"
 salmonella:
   cluster_threshold: 7
   max_distance: 200
   clustering_type: "mlst"
-  N_content_threshold: None
\ No newline at end of file
+  N_content_threshold: None
+  coverage_threshold: 0
+  inclusion_pattern: "*"
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/juno_clustering.py b/juno_clustering.py
index 4f8a073..2c3a453 100644
--- a/juno_clustering.py
+++ b/juno_clustering.py
@@ -67,10 +67,11 @@ def _parse_args(self) -> argparse.Namespace:
         args = super()._parse_args()
 
         # Optional arguments are loaded into self here
-        self.previous_clustering: str = args.previous_clustering
+        self.previous_clustering: Optional[str] = args.previous_clustering
         self.clustering_preset: str = args.clustering_preset
         self.presets_path: Optional[Path] = args.presets_path
         self.merged_cluster_separator: str = args.merged_cluster_separator
+        self.clustering_preset: str = args.clustering_preset
 
         return args
 
@@ -99,10 +100,13 @@ def setup(self) -> None:
             "exclusion_file": str(self.exclusion_file),
             "previous_clustering": str(self.previous_clustering),
             "merged_cluster_separator": str(self.merged_cluster_separator),
+            "clustering_preset": str(self.clustering_preset),
             "cluster_threshold": str(self.cluster_threshold),  # from presets
             "max_distance": str(self.max_distance),  # from presets
             "clustering_type": str(self.clustering_type),  # from presets
             "N_content_threshold": str(self.N_content_threshold),  # from presets
+            "coverage_threshold": str(self.coverage_threshold),  # from presets
+            "inclusion_pattern": str(self.inclusion_pattern),  # from presets
         }
 
     def set_presets(self) -> None:
diff --git a/workflow/rules/clustering.smk b/workflow/rules/clustering.smk
index 8a5b1de..90fe269 100644
--- a/workflow/rules/clustering.smk
+++ b/workflow/rules/clustering.smk
@@ -1,9 +1,67 @@
+if config["clustering_preset"] == "mycobacterium_tuberculosis":
+    rule copy_or_touch_list_excluded_samples:
+        output:
+            temp(OUT + "/previous_list_excluded_samples.tsv"),
+        params:
+            previous_list = PREVIOUS_CLUSTERING + "/list_excluded_samples.tsv"
+        shell:
+            """
+if [ -f {params.previous_list} ]
+then
+    cp {params.previous_list} {output}
+else
+    touch {output}
+fi
+            """
+    
+    rule list_excluded_samples:
+        input:
+            seq_exp_json = expand(INPUT + "/mtb_typing/seq_exp_json/{sample}.json", sample=SAMPLES),
+            exclude_list = OUT + "/previous_list_excluded_samples.tsv",
+        output:
+            OUT + "/list_excluded_samples.tsv",
+        log:
+            OUT + "/log/list_excluded_samples.log",
+        message:
+            "Listing samples which should be excluded."
+        resources:
+            mem_gb=config["mem_gb"]["compression"],
+        conda:
+            "../envs/scripts.yaml"
+        container:
+            "docker://ghcr.io/boasvdp/juno_clustering_scripts:0.2"
+        params:
+            coverage_threshold=config["coverage_threshold"],
+            inclusion_pattern=config["inclusion_pattern"],
+        threads: config["threads"]["compression"]
+        shell:
+            """
+# columns: sample, reason, date
+python workflow/scripts/list_excluded_samples.py \
+--input {input.seq_exp_json} \
+--previous-exclude-list {input.exclude_list} \
+--output {output} \
+--inclusion-pattern {params.inclusion_pattern} \
+--coverage-threshold {params.coverage_threshold} \
+2>&1> {log}
+            """
+else:
+    rule touch_list_excluded_samples:
+        output:
+            temp(OUT + "/list_excluded_samples.tsv"),
+        shell:
+            """
+touch {output}
+            """
+
+
 # PREVIOUS_CLUSTERING is read into config as a str
 if PREVIOUS_CLUSTERING == "None":
 
     rule clustering_from_scratch:
         input:
             distances=OUT + "/distances.tsv",
+            exclude_list=OUT + "/list_excluded_samples.tsv",
         output:
             OUT + "/clusters.csv",
         log:
@@ -29,7 +87,8 @@ python workflow/scripts/cluster.py \
 --log {log} \
 --verbose \
 --merged-cluster-separator {params.merged_cluster_separator:q} \
---output {output}
+--output {output} \
+--exclude {input.exclude_list}
             """
 
 else:
@@ -38,6 +97,7 @@ else:
         input:
             distances=OUT + "/distances.tsv",
             previous_clustering=PREVIOUS_CLUSTERING + "/clusters.csv",
+            exclude_list=OUT + "/list_excluded_samples.txt",
         output:
             OUT + "/clusters.csv",
         log:
@@ -64,5 +124,6 @@ python workflow/scripts/cluster.py \
 --log {log} \
 --verbose \
 --merged-cluster-separator {params.merged_cluster_separator:q} \
+--exclude {input.exclude_list}
 --output {output}
             """
diff --git a/workflow/scripts/cluster.py b/workflow/scripts/cluster.py
index 518a0e3..f1bab3a 100644
--- a/workflow/scripts/cluster.py
+++ b/workflow/scripts/cluster.py
@@ -66,6 +66,36 @@ def read_data(distances, previous_clustering):
         )
     return df_distances, df_previous_clustering
 
+@timing
+def exclude_samples(df_distances, exclude_list):
+    """
+    Exclude samples from the distances dataframe
+
+    Parameters
+    ----------
+    df_distances : pd.DataFrame
+        Dataframe with distances
+    exclude_list : Path
+        Path to list of samples to exclude
+
+    Returns
+    -------
+    df_distances : pd.DataFrame
+        Dataframe with distances
+
+    """
+    with open(exclude_list) as f:
+        nr_lines = len(f.readlines())
+    if nr_lines > 0:
+        logging.info(f"Excluding samples")
+        df_exclude = pd.read_csv(exclude_list, sep="\t")
+        exclude_samples = df_exclude["sample"].tolist()
+        df_distances = df_distances[
+            ~df_distances["sample1"].isin(exclude_samples)
+            & ~df_distances["sample2"].isin(exclude_samples)
+        ]
+    return df_distances
+
 @timing
 def emit_and_save_critical_warning(message, output_path):
     """
@@ -399,6 +429,8 @@ def main(args):
         args.distances, args.previous_clustering
     )
 
+    df_distances = exclude_samples(df_distances, args.exclude_list)
+
     df_nodes = get_df_nodes(df_distances, df_previous_clustering)
 
     df_distances_filtered = filter_edges(df_distances, args.threshold)
@@ -434,6 +466,9 @@ def main(args):
         help="Separator for merged clusters",
         default="|",
     )
+    parser.add_argument(
+        "--exclude-list", type=Path, help="Path to list of samples to exclude from clustering"
+    )
     parser.add_argument(
         "--log", type=Path, help="Path to log file", default="cluster.log"
     )
diff --git a/workflow/scripts/list_excluded_samples.py b/workflow/scripts/list_excluded_samples.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ff2e6a8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/workflow/scripts/list_excluded_samples.py
@@ -0,0 +1,57 @@
+import argparse
+import json
+from pathlib import Path
+import pandas as pd
+import datetime
+import logging
+
+def read_input_data(input_files):
+    data = {}
+    for file in input_files:
+        with open(file) as f:
+            data[file.stem] = json.load(f)
+    df = pd.DataFrame.from_dict(data, orient='index').reset_index(names="sample")
+    df['mean_coverage'] = df['mean_coverage'].astype(float)
+    return df
+
+def exclude_on_coverage(df, threshold):
+    df_copy = df.copy()
+    return df_copy[df_copy['mean_coverage'] < threshold]
+
+def exclude_on_pattern(df, pattern):
+    df_copy = df.copy()
+    return df_copy[~df_copy['sample'].str.contains(pattern)]
+
+def read_previous_exclude_list(file):
+    with open(file) as f:
+        lines = f.readlines()
+    if len(lines) == 0:
+        return pd.DataFrame(columns=['sample', 'reason', 'date'])
+    else:
+        df = pd.read_csv(file, sep="\t")
+        return df
+
+def main(args):
+    df = read_input_data(args.input)
+    df_coverage_excluded = exclude_on_coverage(df, args.coverage_threshold)
+    df_coverage_excluded["reason"] = "low_coverage"
+    df_pattern_excluded = exclude_on_pattern(df, args.inclusion_pattern)
+    df_pattern_excluded["reason"] = "not_NLA"
+    df_excluded = pd.concat([df_coverage_excluded[['sample', 'reason']], df_pattern_excluded[['sample', 'reason']]])
+    df_excluded['date'] = datetime.datetime.now().strftime("%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S")
+    df_previous_excluded = read_previous_exclude_list(args.previous_exclude_list)
+    df_final = pd.concat([df_previous_excluded, df_excluded])
+    df_final.to_csv(args.output, sep="\t", index=False) 
+
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
+
+    parser.add_argument('--input', type=Path, required=True, nargs='+')
+    parser.add_argument('--previous-exclude-list', type=Path, required=True)
+    parser.add_argument('--output', type=Path, required=True)
+    parser.add_argument('--inclusion-pattern', type=str, required=True)
+    parser.add_argument('--coverage-threshold', type=float, required=True)
+
+    args = parser.parse_args()
+
+    main(args)
\ No newline at end of file