COVID-19 genomics body INSACOG has not put out weekly bulletin since March 27

COVID-19 genomics body INSACOG has not put out weekly bulletin since March 27

Subject : Science and Technology

Section: Biotechnology

Why in news?

The India SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG), a multi-laboratory, multi-agency, pan-India network tasked with sequencing, and keeping an eye out for new, threatening SARS-CoV-2 variants, has not published a single bulletin since March 27.

INSACOG COVID -19 Bulletins:

• Earlier, the agency would publish reports once a week. Bulletins provided information on the circulating variants of COVID-19, States that were seeing a surge in the contagious variants and information on whether SARS-CoV-2 variants linked to major outbreaks internationally had been found in India.
• December 2022 saw four bulletins on the 5th, 12th, 19th and 26th of the month, January 2023 saw bulletins on the 2nd and 9th, February saw no bulletins while March had bulletin releases on the 13th, 20th and the last on the 27th of the month. April and May (so far) had no bulletins for the public.

Why no Bulletin?

Genome sequencing had dipped because fewer samples were being made available to network-labs from hospitals and medical colleges for sequencing (as reported cases were declining).

Why it is important?

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned that countries should not look away from COVID-19 and on May 20, launched a global network to help protect people from infectious disease threats through the power of pathogen genomics.

The International Pathogen Surveillance Network (IPSN) will provide a platform to connect countries and regions, improving systems for collecting and analysing samples, using these data to drive public health decision-making, and sharing that information more broadly.

ISACOG:

• INSACOG is a joint programme initiated by the Union Health Ministry of Health and the Department of Biotechnology with the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). It is a consortium of 54 laboratories to monitor the genomic variations in SARS-CoV-2.
• 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.).