How gene sequencing for SARS Cov2 will work

2/6

​How will the samples be collected?

The samples will be collected through the nasopharyngeal route, the same way how swabs are collected for doing an RT-PCR test. In the case of gene sequencing, the viral material from a positive test will be sent for sequencing.

AFP

3/6

​How much time does it usually take for these results to come out?

Depends on how you do it and the equipment you have.
It usually takes around 24-48 hours per sequencing run.Including all associated work, about two runs per week is what is doable. Most people do about a hundred sequences per run. IGIB can currently comfortably do about 3,000 sequences in a week (1,500-3,000 per run). Usually we do much less since the demand has not been that much.On our smaller affordable platforms, we can do about 300 per week.

AFP

4/6

​Which government body is responsible for overseeing this work?

Technically, this is outside ICMR or state government.
Practically, they would control the supply of samples for sequencing and government funding would be the other determinant. The first few sequences came out of ICMR-NIV. The molecular surveillance vertical for SARS CoV2 that prioritised such activities at scale was first set up by the office of the principal scientific advisor (K VijayRaghavan) and was executed by CSIR / DBT at larger scale, once samples became available.

AFP

5/6

​Have we come across the UK strain?

In more than 4,000 Indian viral sequencing that is deposited and other recent undeposited sequences with us, this is not seen yet.

Reuters

6/6

​Is the mutation alarming?

Mutations were always expected and this is not unexpected. While it may be spreading faster, based on the UK data, so far there is no increased severity or death. Given that India has already had extensive spread, with finally cases starting to decline, this is somewhat worrisome. However, nothing very serious.

AP