June 14, 2022 5:37:48 pm
According to a June 13 report of the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, a surge in Covid-19 cases has been noted in the country and the positivity rate in the last week was at 2.21 per cent. (Representational)As Covid cases rise, the Maharashtra health department has focused on stepping up genome surveillance and vaccination. Dr Nitin Ambadekar, who took additional charge as state director of health (Pune) told The Indian Express that instructions have been given to step up genome sequencing of samples that test positive for both antigen and RT-PCR tests.
“Currently not many samples are coming in for genome sequencing and a majority are from Mumbai and Pune,” Dr Ambadekar said. At a recent meeting with states on the coronavirus situation, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare underlined the need to strengthen surveillance at international airports and focus on whole genome sequencing to detect any mutations in the country.
The Centre has pointed out that referrals of samples for sequencing decreased in April and May in Maharashtra and there was also a need to deploy immediate surge sampling in Mumbai. It has also instructed metro cities in Maharashtra (Mumbai, Pune), apart from Chennai and Thiruvananthapuram, to strengthen sewage sampling to capture early signals for any surge.
Dr Ambadekar, who is the state joint director of health services (procurement cell and hospitals) and now has additional charge as director of health services, told The Indian Express that efforts are now being made to get more samples for genome sequencing. “We are asking laboratories to send samples after a rapid antigen test is positive followed by an RT-PCR test and CT value is ls below 25,” state health officials said. Officials pointed out that they hoped to place at least 300 samples this week for genome sequencing at various laboratories in Pune.
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According to a June 13 report of the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, a surge in Covid-19 cases has been noted in the country and the positivity rate in the last week was at 2.21 per cent. As on June 13, a total of 47,995 active cases of Covid have been reported in the country with Maharashtra and Kerala accounting for 34 and 32 per cent of the new infections.
The 16,370 active cases in Maharashtra are largely concentrated in Mumbai and its suburban areas as well as Pune. In Pune, the weekly Covid positivity rate (June 5-11) is 8.34 per cent while in Mumbai it is 10.28 per cent and more than 15 per cent in Mumbai suburban, as per the report.
Of the 101 districts in India reporting a weekly positivity of more than 2% in the week ending June 11, as many as ten are in Maharashtra. According to the latest report from WHO, globally, BA.2.12.1, BA.5 and BA.4 variants are rising in prevalence.
According to a report by the Indian SARS-CoV -2 Genomics Consortium (Insacog – June 3), currently 99 per cent of the samples in the country are of the Omicron variant or its microlineages. Of the internationally flagged sub-variant BA.2.12.1 (driving the surge in North America), a few have been identified in Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, but no increase has been noted. BA.4 and BA.5 (driving the surge in South Africa) have been identified in Mumbai and Pune in Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.
Dr Ambadekar said priority is also being given to vaccination. There were not many takers in the interim as cases had come down and hence it was not a priority for many families to get the child immunised. “We have, however, urged maximum numbers and even conducted home visits to encourage families. So far 32,000 houses have been visited in the last week,” Dr Ambadekar said.
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