UPSC Articles
Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomic Consortia (INSACOG) launched
Part of: GS Prelims and GS-II – Health
In news
- Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomic Consortia (INSACOG) was recently launched.
- Coordinated by: Department of Biotechnology (DBT) along with MoH&FW, ICMR, and CSIR
Key takeaways
- The consortium will ascertain the status of new variant of SARS-CoV-2 in the country.
- INSACOG will have a high level Inter-Ministerial Steering Committee.
- It will have a Scientific Advisory Group for scientific and technical guidance.
- Aim: To 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.).
Do you know?
- A new variant, which was found in the UK, especially in the London region, is defined by multiple mutations in the Spike region, as well as mutations in other genomic regions.
- As per DBT, these mutations are rapidly increasing the number of variants of the virus.
- This variant is significantly more transmissible than previously circulating variants, with an estimated potential to increase the reproductive number with an estimated increased transmissibility of up to 70%.
