The Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG) has been set up for genomic surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 across the country.
In a written reply in Lok Sabha on Friday, Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister for Science & Technology, Earth Sciences and Health & Family Welfare, said, “The consortium involves ten Regional Genome Sequencing Laboratories (RGSLs) – NIBMG Kalyani, ILS Bhubaneswar, ICMR-NIV Pune, NCCS Pune, CSIR-CCMB Hyderabad, CDFD Hyderabad, InStem/NCBS Bengaluru, NIMHANS Bengaluru, CSIR-IGIB Delhi, and NCDC Delhi.”
The RGSLs are currently utilising their internal funds and resources for undertaking the activities of the consortium. The proposal for sanction of fund is under the financial appraisal process in the Department of Biotechnology.
In INSACOG, 10 laboratories were designated in India for Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS) with the objectives: to ascertain the current status of new variant of SARS COV-2 in the country; to establish a sentinel surveillance for early detection of genomic variants with public health implication; to determine the genomic variants in the unusual events/trends (super spreader events, high mortality/ morbidity trend areas etc).
It was initially proposed to sequence five per cent of all positive samples from each state in order to identify potential outbreaks and related strains as part of continuous surveillance with priority given to Covid-19 laboratories/ hospitals in urban areas and tertiary care District Hospitals as per the defined Standard Operating Procedure (SOP).
As of March 10, 2021, a total of 19,092 RT-PCR positive samples for SARS CoV-2 have been received from various states/UTs (across the 10 designated RGSLs), in which 4869 samples have been processed.
Among the processed samples, 284 samples have been detected to be positive for the ‘UK strain’ and 11 samples positive for the ‘South African strain’ and one sample positive for the ‘Brazil strain’.