Districts told to send enough samples for genome study

PUNE: The state health department has directed all districts to send adequate number of samples for Covid-19 genome sequencing.

Health officials said nearly 26 districts were registering less than 100 cases daily. But, as per the agreement, as many as 3,200 samples have to be sent to Council of Industrial and Scientific Research-Institute of Genomic and Integrative Biology (IGIB) ever week, which comes to 100 samples per district.

As per the cabinet report, districts like Dhule, Bhandara and Gondia are not reporting any Covid cases, while districts like Washim, Wardha and Jalgaon are reporting only 3-4 cases daily.“We have directed all districts to scale up testing to ensure enough samples for genome sequencing in the wake of the Omicron variant,” a health official said.

Dr Rajesh Karyakarte, the state coordinator for genome sequencing, said the state was leading in sending the samples for genome sequencing in the country, with over 21,000 samples being sent for the study so far. “The state sent 746 samples from 21 districts in November to check for Omicron, but all samples tested positive for Delta variant,” he said.