MADURAI: Tamil Nadu is awaiting the inclusion of the whole genome sequencing laboratory at the State Public Health Laboratory (Chennai) in Indian SARS-COV-2 genome consortium (INSACOG). Despite the State having a genome-sequencing laboratory in Chennai, established two months ago, the Covid-19 swab samples from Tamil Nadu are being tested at Chennai as well as Bengaluru for the Omicron variant.
Health Secretary Dr J Radhakrishnan said the samples of foreign returnees who turn positive while testing at airports across the State are being sent to the State Public Health Laboratory, Chennai and to the Institute For Stem Cell Science and Regenerative Medicine (InStem), Bengaluru. “It will take five to six days for the confirmation tests on the Omicron variant to arrive,” he said.
“The Chennai lab, which is the State’s first whole genome sequencing laboratory to detect Coronavirus variants, is just two-months old and its staff were trained by the experts at InStem. The samples, however, are being simultaneously sent to Bengaluru for confirmatory tests as per the norms of the Union government since the State Public Health Lab is yet to be a part of the consortium. The Tamil Nadu government has written to the Union government to include the lab at Chennai in the INSACOG and an approval is expected soon,” Radhakrishnan shared.
INSACOG, jointly initiated by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Department of Biotechnology, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research and Indian Council of Medical Research, is a consortium of 28 laboratories across India to monitor the genomic variations in the SARS-CoV-2 (virus causing Covid).
Earlier, Director of Public Health had issued an order enlisting 12 government medical college hospitals to detect the drop-out in S-gene (indicative of Omicron infection). However, the districts have been instructed to send all the Covid positive samples to Chennai, according to sources.
‘Get vaxxed or be banned’
Madurai: If you are not vaccinated against Covid-19, you will be banned from public places. An order on the ban was issued by Collector Dr S Aneesh Sekhar, on Friday. The order states, only vaccinated people would henceforth be allowed inside markets, hotels, shopping malls, movie theatres, organised/unorganised industries, educational institutions, marriage halls, Tasmac and PDS shops. The collector’s move comes a day after Health Minister Ma Subramanian told media persons at Madurai Airport that the collectors could take a call on imposing the restriction on unvaccinated persons. “It could be done in districts with low vaccination coverage,” the minister had said. Last month, the Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine issued a circular making Covid vaccination mandatory to enter public places.Aneesh Sekhar told TNIE the order comes into immediate effect. A grace period of one week will be given to the people to get themselves vaccinated, he added.