INSACOG

Subject : Governance

Context: Virologist Shahid Jameel Quits India’s Genome Sequencing Consortium.

Concept :

The central government set up a consortium of 10 national research institutions, which will collaborate for carrying out effective surveillance and monitoring of the genomic variations observed in the new SARS nCov-2 virus strain, recently identified from the United Kingdom.
Indian SARS CoV2 Genome Sequencing Consortium (INSACOG), it will be a platform for scientists, virologists, experts studying diseases and government officials to interact and track the genomic variations of the novel coronavirus.
INSACOG will have a high level Inter-Ministerial Steering Committee.
It will have a Scientific Advisory Group for scientific and technical guidance.
It will monitor the genomic variations in the SARS-CoV-2 on a regular basis through a multi-laboratory network.
This vital research consortium will also assist in developing potential vaccines in the future.
The consortium will also establish a sentinel surveillance for early detection of genomic variants with public health implication, and determine the genomic variants in the unusual events/trends (super-spreader events, high mortality/morbidity trend areas etc.).