Image Source: hindustantimes.com
At Delhi International Airport, first genome sequencing lab will be launched today. This lab is launched for testing the samples of all travellers who will be arriving in country and tested positive for Covid-19.
The persons who tested positive, their samples will be genome sequenced to identify and contain the new mutant variant of Sars-CoV-2, a virus that causes Covid-19 and has been detected in UK and other countries.
Dr Vinod Paul, member (health) Niti Aayog and chairman, national expert group on vaccine administration for Covid-19 (NEGVAC) will inaugurate the laboratory on Thursday morning, in the presence of Dr Anurag Agrawal, director, CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology, Ajay Singh, chairman and managing director, SpiceJet, and Avani Singh, chief executive officer, SpiceHealth.
India started genome sequencing soon after the flights from the UK were suspended on December 23, 2020. The total number of persons detected positive with this new variant stands at 102.
India has begun the testing of 5% of the Postive Covid-19 patients in order to track better the traces of new mutant.
The presence of the new UK variant has already been reported by Denmark, Netherlands, Australia, Italy, Sweden, France, Spain, Switzerland, Germany, Canada, Japan, Lebanon and Singapore, so far.