Genome sequencing of all positive samples in Maha, don't panic: official

Maharashtra's state surveillance officer said all swab Covid positive samples will be sent for genome sequencing to track any new variant

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Maharashtra's state surveillance officer on Wednesday said all swab samples testing positive for COVID-19 will be sent for genome sequencing to track any new variant and maintained there was no need to panic in view of the current surge in cases in China, said to be driven by a new strain of Omicron.

State surveillance officer Dr Pradip Awate's statement came a day after the Centre asked states to step up genome sequencing of positive swab samples amid a spurt in coronavirus cases in the US, China and some other countries. Awate said they are already conducting genome sequencing of samples, but since the number of positive cases has come down in the last few months, the sequencing process, too, has slowed down. Genome sequencing is a laboratory test that can map out the whole genetic makeup of a virus from a patient's swab sample. "Earlier, we used to pick up samples of serious patients, admitted patients, patients who had re-infection after vaccination, and patients from particular clusters for genome sequencing. But as per the Centre's guidelines, we will be sending all the RT-PCR positive samples for genomic sequencing now," he told PTI here. Awate, however, said there was no need to hit the panic button and pointed out that three cases of the Omicron subvariant BF.7, apparently the strain driving China's current COVID-19 surge, have been already detected in India (two in Gujarat and one in Odisha). He said BF.7, the sub-lineage of BA.5, has already been detected in India, but it did not spread among the country's population. "At the same time, the BQ.1 sub-variant, which has been found in the United States of America, was also found in India and Maharashtra and that also did not lead to a spurt in cases," said the surveillance officer. Awate said since all these variants have already been spotted in India, there was a slim possibility of anything going wrong, "so no need to press the panic button". Maharashtra's coordinator for genome sequencing Dr Rajesh Karyakarte said they are geared up for the process to detect any new variant. So far, the XBB sub-variant has been the dominant strain of coronavirus in Maharashtra, accounting for more than 70 per cent of the positive cases, he said.