Arvind Kejriwal inaugurates genome sequencing lab at Delhi's ILBS hospital

 The Delhi Govt has approved the NovaSeq machine for ILBS which will be able to sequence hundreds of samples in a week. This facility by the Delhi government will also help in the classification of new strains or variants of the Coronavirus, based on the genomic data.

New Delhi: Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal inaugurated the Delhi government’s second laboratory to sequence genomes of the Sars-CoV-2 virus, which causes COVID-19, at the Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences (ILBS) in south Delhi's Vasant Kunj, a day after he flagged off the first such facility at the Lok Nayak hospital. "I feel that the people of Delhi will highly benefit from this facility," said CM Kejriwal. He tweeted that with the help of these labs, the identification and severity of any new variant of coronavirus can be detected. Delhiites will get a lot of benefits from this technology during the pandemic period.  ILBS Director Dr. Shiv Kumar Sarin explained that ILBS preserves the RNA of positive COVID-19 samples and it will be able to sequence them in entirety, all its 30,000 molecules, results will be available in 5-7 days. The Delhi Govt has approved the NovaSeq machine for ILBS which will be able to sequence hundreds of samples in a week. This facility by the Delhi government will also help in the classification of new strains or variants of the Coronavirus, based on the genomic data. Health Minister Satyendar Jain and ILBS Director Dr Shiv Kumar Sarin accompanied CM Kejriwal in initiating the launch of Genome Sequencing facility at ILBS.  Addressing the media post his visit, CM Kejriwal said, "It is with immense pride and happiness that I announce the start of a laboratory at ILBS for the purpose of genome sequencing to identify and analyse the COVID-19 variants. The lab has already been set up and the first set of results will come in the next 4-5 days. Yesterday, we launched a similar laboratory in LNJP hospital, but this is going to be an even more advanced one. I really feel that the people of Delhi will highly benefit from this lab and the facility that it will cater to. Until now, we were dependent on NCDC and other centres of the central government for this sequencing. But now, we are independent and will be able to identify the variants on time and take the right actions so as to strategize our plans for any of the next waves, if at all they come."