Boosting Genome Sequencing For Sars-CoV-2: India To Add 17 New Laboratories To The Insacog Network

Boosting genome sequencing for Sars-CoV-2, India is set to add 17 new laboratories to the network of Indian Sars-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (Insacog), reports Economic Times.

The addition of 17 new laboratories would increase the screening of samples from States and international travellers for better study of the spread and mutations of the virus and more spatial analysis of the same.

It should be noted that Insacog was established on 18 January as a collaborative partnership between the Government of India’s Department of Biotechnology and the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW).

As of now, Insacog has 10 laboratories operating under its network across the country. The decision to add 17 more laboratories was announced by Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan during a meeting of the group of ministers on Covid-19.

When Insacog had been established, The MoHFW had said that these laboratories would test five per cent of the positive samples from all the States and international travellers. As of now, the actual number of samples screened by Insacog laboratories is much lower.