Indian scientists have completed sequencing of 1000 SARS-CoV-2 genomes from nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal swabs collected from individuals testing positive for Covid-19 by Real Time PCR from ten states across the country.
Announcing the completion of pan-India 1000 genome sequencing of SARS-CoV-2, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said that the sequence data will soon be released in the Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data (GISAID) for use by researchers across the globe.
The Department of Biotechnology had launched the programme in May to be conducted by autonomous Institutes of DBT, collaborating with national laboratories and clinical organisations.
“The information in the database will improve our understanding on how the virus is spreading, ultimately helping to interrupt the transmission chains, prevent new cases of infection and provide impetus to research on intervention measures,” said Vardhan.
The Minister said the data analysis might bring out some interesting conclusions to help in the fight against Covid-19.
He also dedicated to the nation the largest network of five Covid-19 bio-repositories established by the Department of Biotechnology.
These are at Translational Health Science and Technology Institute (THSTI) Faridabad, Institute of Life Science (ILS) Bhubaneshwar, Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences (ILBS) New Delhi, National Centre for Cell Science (NCCS) Pune and Institute for Stem Cell Science and Regenerative Medicine (InStem) Bangalore. He complemented the efforts of DBT in “the relentless war for mitigation of this Pandemic”.
The Minister said, “The information in the database will improve our understanding on how the virus is spreading, ultimately helping to interrupt the transmission chains, prevent new cases of infection, and provide impetus to research on intervention measures.”
He also said that “sixteen vaccine candidates are in different stages of development. The BCG Vaccine is undergoing phase 3 trial, Zydus Cadila DNA Vaccine is in phase I / II trial and 4 Vaccine candidates are in advanced stages of pre-clinical study”. Also, he said “five good clinical laboratory practice (GCLP) clinical trial sites have been developed and 6 animal models for Vaccine Development Studies are also ready.”