Two strains responsible for surge in Covid cases in India

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) have said that two strains have been responsible for the recent surge in Covid-19 cases, though there is no increase in hospitalisations or severity of illness so far, the government informed Parliament on Friday, August 9, 2024.

According to data provided by Union Health Minister J.P. Nadda in the Lok Sabha, 824 cases of the COVID-19 KP mutant strain were recorded until August 5.

Maharashtra had the highest number of cases with 417, followed by West Bengal with 157 and Uttarakhand with 64. 

Further, the Department of Health Research has sanctioned 163 Viral Research and Diagnostic Laboratories around India to improve virus detection and research.

The government has taken various measures to face the challenge in regard to the surge in fresh COVID-19 cases in the country, JP Nadda said.

Steps have been taken to improve healthcare infrastructure in States and Union territories.

The Centre has issued advisories to the States in view of the detection of COVID-19 variants such as JN.1 and advised them to ensure adequate testing in all districts, according to the testing guidelines.

The States have been urged to maintain constant vigil over the Covid situation and have been advised to ensure adequate testing, and have been asked to send positive samples for genome sequencing to Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genome Sequencing (INSACOG) laboratories. 

INSACOG is a consortium of 67 laboratories and 400-plus sentinel sites to monitor the genomic variations in SARS-CoV-2.

The NCDC acts as the lead agency for INSACOG. In this regard, the IDSP coordinates the flow of samples from states to Regional Genome Sequencing Labs (RGSLs) and provides feedback to the States.

The IDSP also collates the whole genomic sequencing results and reports it to the respective States and Union territories for necessary action, along with key epidemiological inputs.

Until June 15, India sequenced 3,36,892 (3.36 lakh) SARS-CoV-2 viral genomes, out of which 3,01,451 (3.01 lakh) were done by INSACOG, JP Nadda said.