Amid a sudden spurt in Covid-19 cases in various pockets of South Korea, Brazil, Japan, China and the US, the Centre on Tuesday urged all States and Union Territories (UT) to ensure genome sequencing of positive samples to keep track of emerging variants. The Government, however, assured that as far as India is concerned, it is extensively immunised with effective vaccines, especially the adult population.
In a letter to States and UTs, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said genome sequencing will enable timely detection of newer variants, if any, circulating in the country and will facilitate undertaking of requisite public health measures.
He underlined 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. The public health challenge of Covid-19 still persists around the world with around 35 lakh cases reported weekly, Bhushan pointed out in the backdrop of reports of China witnessing a huge surge in cases following zero-restriction policy.
In his letter, he also referred to the operational guidelines for revised surveillance strategy in context of Covid-19 issued by the Ministry in June 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.
“Therefore, monitoring the trends of existing variants is of crucial importance,” he said, adding, “In view of the sudden spurt of cases being witnessed in Japan, United States of America, Republic of Korea, Brazil and China, it is essential to gear up the whole genome sequencing of positive case samples to track the variants through Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG) network.”
Bhushan went on to ask the States and UTs to send the samples of positive cases on a daily basis to the designated INSACOG Genome Laboratories that are mapped to States and UTs.
Talking to a news agency, Chairman of the Covid-19 Working Group, advisory committee on immunisation (NTAGI) NK Arora assured that there was no such imminent threat in India.
“There is no need to panic and the situation is under control in India,” he said, reacting to questions about the burst of Covid cases in China after Beijing’s recent decision to lift strict lockdown measures.
“We’re hearing that there’s widespread Covid infections in China. As far as India is concerned, it is extensively immunised with effective vaccines, especially the adult population,” he said.
Arora added that data from INSACOG — a pan-India body under the Health Ministry that studies and monitors genome sequencing – has shown that almost all sub-variants of Omicron in the world were found in India.
“There are not many sub-variants which aren’t circulating here. It is important to keep a close vigil on the Chinese situation but there is no need to panic as the situation is in control,” Arora added.