Centre asks states to focus on genome testing to track mutated virus – Mint

NEW DELHI: As the total number of covid-19 cases caused by mutant variants of coronavirus mounted to 400, centre on Friday, the Centre asked states to follow up on sending samples for genome testing to track circulating virus variants of concern.

All states and Union territories have been tagged to 10 national laboratories under the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics (INSACOG) consortium with National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) as the nodal institute, the Union health ministry said. The Indian government has recently confirmed circulation of UK, South Africa and Brazil mutant variants of coronavirus in the country.

Also Read | Vaccine utilization rates lower in states witnessing second wave

Public health experts have said that as the mutant strains continue to increase the disease burden, the government needs to look at the diagnostics more closely. Analysing power as well as the density of sequencing ability will be important for India. We need to update our regulatory processes as well for the same and these modifications can be quickly brought to fruition. The US FDA guidelines have provided a relatively easy guideline for achieving the same. Countries need to be alert and create diagnostic kits for the future depending on the presence of mutations," said professor N.K. Ganguly, president, Jawaharlal Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education and Research, and former director general of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). Ganguly suggested that booster shots in the existing vaccines can be given to neutralise the effects of mutations alongside a few other vaccines.

The Centre has also advised states/UTs to improve testing in districts reporting reduction in testing and increase the overall share of RT-PCR tests (more than 70%), especially in districts dependent on high levels of antigen testing in line with the Test Track & Treat strategy of the government.

While the covid-19 vaccination is progressing in the country administering over 40 million doses to immunise people against the highly infectious disease, Indias covid-19 burden continues to increase. According to the Union health ministry data, some states in the country are reporting a surge in the daily new covid-19 cases. Maharashtra, Punjab, Karnataka, Gujarat and Chhattisgarh together account 80.63% of the daily new cases.

Over 39,726 new daily cases were reported in the last 24 hours, the highest this year. Maharashtra continues to report the highest daily new cases at 25,833, 65% of the daily cases. It is followed by Punjab with 2,369 cases, while Kerala reported 1,899 new cases. The country also recorded over 156 deaths.

Indias total active caseload stood at 2.71 lakh (2,71,282) on Friday, 2.82% of the total positive cases in the country. This is a net incline of 18,918 cases recorded from the total active caseload in the last 24 hours, the government data showed. Three states of Maharashtra, Kerala and Punjab account for 76.48% of Indias total active cases.

Meanwhile, the Central government has also advised states and UTs to carry out an average close contact tracing of a minimum of 20 persons per positive case (in the first 72 hours) along with isolation and early treatment of the serious cases as per clinical protocol. It is also advised to focus on surveillance and stringent containment of those areas in selected districts which are seeing a cluster of cases and focus on clinical management in districts reporting higher deaths," the Union health ministry said in a statement.

States/UTs have been asked to limit the gathering in public places along with promoting covid-appropriate behaviour through communication and enforcement, and accelerate vaccination for priority population groups in districts reporting higher cases. Accelerating the pace of vaccination has also been stressed upon, the Central government said.

Recently, the Centre had deputed high-level public health teams to Maharashtra and Punjab to assist in covid-19 control and containment measures in view of the recent spike in cases in these states.

The Centre had earlier deputed high-level teams to Maharashtra, Kerala, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Punjab, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, as well as Jammu and Kashmir to support them in their fight against the recent spike in covid-19 cases.

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Centre asks states to focus on genome testing to track mutated virus - Mint