India On Alert, Designates Separate Insacog Labs For New COVID-19 Strain

The Central Government on the 30th of December, set up specific testing centres for the Novel Coronavirus or COVID-19 new strain.

Genome sequencing would be conducted on all international passengers who were symptomatic and tested positive for COVID-19.

After the United Kingdom (U.K.,) reported a new mutant variant of COVID-19, the Indian Government is on high alert. The Union Civil Aviation Ministry suspended flights to U.K., and vice versa, the U.K., returnees landing in India between the 9th of December to the 22nd of December would be subjected to COVID-19 tests and would follow mandatory isolation.

Dr. V.K. Paul, a member of Niti Aayog said, “It is easy to suppress the virus in the starting. Once the transmission is too widespread, it is hard to control.”

According to doctors and researchers, the new variant of COVID-19 has no evidence of more fatalities or is not controllable through COVID-19 vaccine. However, the new strain has 70 % more risk of rapid transmission, risking a huge number of people. In a Country where population is more than 133 crores, it would be a challenge to control the spread, if not curbed at an early stage.

Earlier on Tuesday, while announcing the detection of the UK strain, the Central Government said the situation is “under careful watch.”

The Central Government even designated 10 laboratories in India for testinh the new strain of COVID-19.

The designated 10 Insacog labs are: National Institute of Biomedical Genomics (NIBMG,) Kolkata, Institute of Life Science (ILS) Bhubaneswar, National Institute of Virology (NIV) Pune, College of Computer Sciences (CCS) Pune, Centre for Cellular Molecular Biology (CCMB) Hyderabad, Centre for DNA Fingerprint Diagnostic (CDFD) Hyderabad, Institute for Stem Cell Science and Regenerative (InSTEM) Bengaluru, National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS) Bengaluru, Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB) Delhi, National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) Delhi.

Stay tuned for further updates.