Indian Government on Monday revealed, latest and vital data on Genome Sequencing. The Government stated that over 16,000 COVID-19 samples by sentinel sites were sent in July and August for Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS) to check for variants of SARS-COV-2.
The Union Health Ministry said there have been some media reports alleging that genome sequencing and analysis of COVID-19 declined sharply in India even as cases of the disease continued to rise.
Since July onwards, for accurate sharing of sample particulars and timely communication of Whole Genome Sequencing results, data for samples for WGS by sentinel sites is being shared through Integrated Health Information Platform (IHIP) portal, it said.
This ensures real-time sharing of sample particulars and WGS results. Accordingly, 9,066 samples were sent through sentinel sites in July and 6,969 samples were shared in August, the ministry said
The second week of September began on a promising note for India with the daily Covid caseload witnessing a minor drop on Monday. The country saw 38,948 new Covid-19 infections in a span of 24 hours, the government report says.
One of the major reliefs is in terms of Covid fatalities. India on Monday saw 219 corona deaths in the last 24 hours. This is a big respite. Is there a connection between increasing vaccination coverage and the declining number of Covid deaths is being probed by the experts. However, the country again is slipping into the lower test bracket. The ICMR data says that a little over 14 lakh Covid tests were carried out on September 5.
India’s COVID-19 vaccination drive broke a new record by becoming the fastest country to administer 10 million doses in a single day
When will the coronavirus pandemic end? When asked this question, World Health Organization chief Tedros Ghebreyesu had a very simple answer – whenever we want! For those who think that we are stuck in an ending cycle of viral transmission, there is just one hope – speedy and extensive vaccination around the globe.
