New Delhi: The Union Health Ministry, in the view of sudden burst in Coronavirus cases globally, urged all states and Union territories to gear up the whole genome sequencing of positive samples to keep track of emerging variants.
Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said in a letter “ln view of sudden spurt of cases being witnessed in Japan, USA, Korea, Brazil and China, it is essential to gear up whole genome sequencing of positive case samples to track variants through Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG) network.”
ln view of sudden spurt of cases being witnessed in Japan,USA,Korea,Brazil & China, it’s essential to gear up whole genome sequencing of positive case samples to track variants through Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium(INSACOG)network: Union Health Secy to States & UTs pic.twitter.com/Ns4LEvJyOX
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He highlighted that India with its focus on the five-fold strategy of test-track-treat-vaccination and adherence to Covid-appropriate behaviour has been able to restrict the transmission of the coronavirus and is having around 1,200 cases on a weekly basis.
With almost 35 lakh cases reported each week, the Covid-19 public health hazard is still present throughout the world, Bhushan said.
He also referred in his letter to the ministry’s operational guidelines for the revised surveillance plan in light of COVID-19, which were released in June of this year.
It calls for early detection, isolation, testing, and timely management of suspected and confirmed cases to detect and contain outbreaks of new SARS-CoV-2 variants.
“In this context, all states are requested to ensure that as far as possible samples of all positive cases, on a daily basis, are sent to the designated INSACOG Genome Laboratories that are mapped to states and UTs,” he added in the letter.
India has recorded 112 new coronavirus infections, while the active cases declined to 3,490, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Tuesday.
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