{"id":111425,"date":"2021-06-10T10:12:52","date_gmt":"2021-06-10T04:42:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=111425"},"modified":"2021-06-10T10:12:52","modified_gmt":"2021-06-10T04:42:52","slug":"genomic-sequencing-in-india-needs-to-be-scaled-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/genomic-sequencing-in-india-needs-to-be-scaled-up\/","title":{"rendered":"Genomic sequencing in India needs to be scaled up"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Synopsis<\/strong>: There is a need for rapidly expanding genomic sequencing and sharing related data in a timely &amp; transparent manner. This will help in understanding the impact of new variants on transmissibility, severity and vaccine effectiveness.<\/p>\n<h5><strong>Background<\/strong><\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li>An effective COVID-19 pandemic response requires tracking of emerging variants, conducting studies about their transmissibility, immune escape and its potential to cause severe disease.<\/li>\n<li>In this context, genomic sequencing becomes important. <a href=\"https:\/\/factly.forumias.com\/genome-sequencing-to-map-population-diversity\/\">Genomic sequencing<\/a> helps to track the emerging variants and use the evidence for timely actions.<\/li>\n<li>Unfortunately, Genomic sequencing in India is not being paid much attention.<\/li>\n<li>Despite, the establishment of <a href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/government-launches-indian-sars-cov-2-genomic-consortiainsacog-group\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">SARS-CoV2 Genomic Consortia, or INSACOG<\/a> the sequencing has remained very low.\n<ul>\n<li><strong>INSACOG:<\/strong> It is a grouping of 10 National Laboratories involved in carrying out <strong>genomic sequencing and analysis of circulating COVID-19 viruses<\/strong>. It was established by the <strong>Ministry of Health and Family Welfare<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>What is Genome Sequencing?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/answered-what-is-genome-sequencing-discuss-the-significance-of-genome-sequencing-in-recent-context-of-coronavirus-epidemic\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Genome sequencing<\/a> is a process of determining the complete DNA\/RNA sequence of an organism\u2019s genome. It has the potential to benefit mankind especially in healthcare, disease prevention etc.<\/p>\n<h5><strong>Significance of Genome Sequencing<\/strong><\/h5>\n<p>The data from genomic sequencing has <strong>both policy and operational implications<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>First, <\/strong>the genome sequencing of SARS CoV-2 conducted by premier research institutes provides very <strong>useful insight into the behaviour and impact of <a href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/what-is-the-delta-variant-of-covid-19\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Delta variant<\/a><\/strong>. For instance, consider the recent findings in India based on genome sequencing<strong>.<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Recently, the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research &#8211; Institute of Genomics along with two other institutes, analysed nearly 3,600 genomic sequence samples from Delhi.<\/li>\n<li>The genome sequencing of SARS CoV-2 led to the following findings,\n<ul>\n<li>The Delta variant had become the most circulating variant in Delhi and was found in nearly 60% of the samples analysed.<\/li>\n<li>The Delta variant was found to be 50% more transmissible than the Alpha variant.<\/li>\n<li>Also, the Delta variant was found to be associated with a high viral load and resulted in a higher proportion of breakthrough infection.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Based on their analysis, they were able to conclude that the Delta variant was responsible for the pandemic wave in Delhi.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Second, Genome sequencing was also helpful to find out the efficacy of the vaccine against different strains. For instance, <\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Based on the findings from genome sequencing in U.K, The Public Health England reported that the effectiveness of a single dose of vaccine was lower against the Delta strain.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Read Also :-<span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a style=\"color: #0000ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/answered-what-is-genome-sequencing-discuss-the-significance-of-genome-sequencing-in-recent-context-of-coronavirus-epidemic\/\">What is genome sequencing?<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<h5><strong>What needs to be done for an effective COVID-19 pandemic response?<\/strong><\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>First<\/strong>, to scale up genomic sequencing in India, across all States, <strong>adequate samples should be collected for national-level analysis<\/strong> of collated genomic sequencing data on a regular basis and findings should be shared publicly.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Second,<\/strong> the Indian government needs to <strong>invest and support more scientific and operational <a href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/a-study-on-effectiveness-of-vaccines-found-more-anti-bodies-from-covishield\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">research on vaccine<\/a><\/strong> <strong>effectiveness<\/strong>. The data should be analysed on various stratifies such as age, gender and comorbid conditions, etc.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Third, <\/strong>experts need to deliberate and find solutions to the issues posed by Covid-19 variants, such as immune escape and reduced vaccine effectiveness against the Delta variant.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The only assured way to fight the pandemic is to use scientific evidence to decide policies, modify strategies and take corrective actions<strong>. <\/strong>In this regard, increasing genomic sequencing is not a choice but an absolute essential.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Source:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/epaper.thehindu.com\/Home\/ShareArticle?OrgId=GUG8LBTO3.1&amp;imageview=0\">The Hindu<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Synopsis: There is a need for rapidly expanding genomic sequencing and sharing related data in a timely &amp; transparent manner. This will help in understanding the impact of new variants on transmissibility, severity and vaccine effectiveness. Background An effective COVID-19 pandemic response requires tracking of emerging variants, conducting studies about their transmissibility, immune escape and&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/genomic-sequencing-in-india-needs-to-be-scaled-up\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Genomic sequencing in India needs to be scaled up<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230,1351,1310,9],"tags":[1315],"class_list":["post-111425","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-daily-news","category-daily-news-updates","category-public","tag-st_1","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":{"total":2,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1700463662},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111425","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111425"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111425\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111425"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111425"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111425"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}